Will Cozens Ever Return To Form?

[Washed Up 29YearOld]

Did Cozens peak early? I'm a big believer of a player (typically) peaking about age 25-26. It's around that age you know what you have in them. Cozens will be TWENTY FOUR already this upcoming February. Usually at that age forwards have a decent bump in their production.

Was his usage his first few years unsustainable with too much o-zone time and taught him bad habits?

Ultimately, the question is, is the best of Cozens yet to come? Or did he truly peak in his early twenties? That's considered rare and if we're stuck with his 7 mil contract we might be pretty fkd- yet- PLD has a 8.5 mil salary and was traded in a underperforming player swap. 7 mil will be like 5.5 mil in 3-4 years so maybe it's not too bad if we really need to get out of his contract to sign the other guys?

Am I overreacting based on a small sample size of last season and a few games?

Am I losing my mind?

Will Buffalo ever have a championship?

Will this be the anti-jynx thread Cozens needs to really get going? Will he have 10 pts. in 5 games after this thread?


WILL COZENS EVER RETURN TO FORM?

Discuss.

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[buffalowing88]

I think the illusion that he had a nice offensive ceiling was just a product of that 22-23 season and not Cozens himself. He's just not as sharp offensively as guys he's been compared to. So I don't know that he's going to be a regular 65-70 point guy year-in-year-out anymore.

But I have to think he's still going to have a solid career. He seems to have the character of a guy who will work on his game instead of coasting through off-seasons. Maybe more of a Drew Stafford-type level of production than what I had initially anticipated, though.

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

The right path for Cozens was to learn the game from the wing, and see if one day he could handle the defensive side of being a C, and being more physical as he got older and bigger. A Sabres GM CONSTANTLY finds a way to fark up the development of good young player. Cozens is still worth keeping and waiting on, but in a lesser role with less pressure to be more than he is right now. To do that, a couple Cs now have to be slotted above their level. Same shit different year.

 

[MOGlLNY]

I don't think Cozens has the hockey iq to be a high end center.

 

[Fjordy]

Maybe he'll do well on the wing, not sure about playing in the centre.

 

[Irie]

Cozens will be fine.

Right now he has a lot running through his head as he is processing the positioning of both his teammates and his opponents. Happens to most young centers at the NHL level when they are asked to read the ice instead of just do a set job within the system.

When young players are processing instead of reacting, you get what is going on with Cozens currently. He is 23. Countless all star players didn't even play their first NHL game until they were his age in the history of the NHL, just for some perspective.

This is the reason I disagreed with Granato's philosophy of "build confidence on the offensive side by letting them freewheel out there before installing discipline and responsibility - it leads to bad habits and is the wrong development path. Young guys should gain that offensive confidence in lower leagues while also developing their on ice awareness and defensive discipline.

At some point, the reads should become instinctual, and then Cozens will start to play on reaction again, and he will "arrive".

These growing pains are super common around young centers. Writing him off already as a finished project is crazy.

 

[Dreakon13]

My problem with Cozens is that even in 22-23 I never quite understood what he was "good at". If he becomes the all star player we hope he can, what's his strength? His shot? His skating? His defense? I think I've seen people say the transition, but this season isn't helping to solidify that thought in any way.

So I'm not really sure what a return to form looks like for him, to say if he can ever return to it. All I can say is that he's gotta be better than this lol

 

[jc17]

Agreeing with others, cozens never really looked the part of 70 point center even as he did it. I don't think he's gotten worse just combo of bad luck and different situations.

Pucks will start going in for him, his shot is decent and he does have some skill so he'll get assists too. Some people in Twitter will go on about his stone hands, but its more that he overestimates his own ability and picks bad times to try to use them.

Idk I don't watch him now and think "I need more", it's usually "please do less".

I think the change to wing might be a decent shakeup but I still feel that longterm he could be a strong 2 way center if he commits to it.

 

[Ace]

Again…we need to normalize that his form was never the one contract year he shot way above his normal percentage. He's closer to form now than he was that year.

 

[BFLO]

I think 2022-23 was an outlier for Cozens and not "his form". He went on a mega hot streak from Nov 4th to Jan 7th, approximately 2 months, where he put up 31 points in 27 games, or 94 point pace. He put up 37 points the other 52 games that season, or 58 point pace.

I think "his form" is closer to a 58 point 2C. He's having a bad and unlucky start this season.

58 point 2c is perfectly acceptable, as long as they are good defensively.... which Cozens is not.