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Dylan Cozens

Buffalo Sabres Extend Dylan Cozens

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The Buffalo Sabres have locked up another key piece of their future, signing Dylan Cozens to a seven-year extension. The $49.7MM deal keeps him from reaching restricted free agency and will keep him under contract through the 2029-30 season. He will carry a $7.1MM cap hit, and PuckPedia reports that the deal also includes a five-team no-trade clause in the last three seasons.

Cozens, 21, joins Tage Thompson and Mattias Samuelsson with recent seven-year extensions as the Sabres try to ensure that this core sticks around and grows into a contender together.

The seventh-overall pick from 2019 has already become a star if sometimes an overlooked one. Cozens has 17 goals and 43 points in 49 games this season, tying him with players like Anze Kopitar, Trevor Zegras, Dylan Larkin, Tomas Hertl, and Evgeny Kuznetsov. His performance has flown a little under the radar because of the attention that Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin receive in Buffalo, but make no mistake – Cozens will be a critical part of their future success.

While this extension certainly isn’t cheap, it also is pretty reasonable for a player who has shown such strides in the early part of his career. If the salary cap does increase like it is expected to over the next few years, the league may look back at this deal as a relative bargin, as it has with some other young players who were locked up early.

The fact that he plays center is a huge factor here. The Sabres now have their top two pivots locked up, meaning they can build around them with whatever complementary talents they can find. Any line led by Thompson and Cozens should be rather successful, especially with defense pairings anchored by Dahlin, Samuelsson, and Owen Power.

It’s quite a group they are building in Buffalo, with plenty of financial flexibility to keep adding. While they will need to keep some room open for Dahlin’s impending mega-deal (he is signed through next season), there is plenty of room to add some more talent in free agency or through trade, with Kyle Okposo’s $6MM hit coming off the books at the end of this season.

A move like this will also affect other RFA negotiations around the league. Zegras, for instance, was picked just two spots after Cozens in 2019 and will finish his entry-level deal this summer. His 117 points in 150 games do trump the Sabres’ center, but that has also been on an Anaheim Ducks team with virtually no competition for powerplay touches and offensive deployment.

There is also Cole Caufield, who is also from the 2019 draft and is in a negotiation with the Montreal Canadiens. His goal total is much higher than Cozens, but he has played fewer games and scored fewer points at a less demanding position. In both cases, this contract will be held up as a comparable.

It will be quite a happy birthday for Cozens on Thursday, when he turns 22. With nothing to focus on except hockey, the Sabres will hope he can reach new heights down the stretch and help them push for a playoff berth.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Dylan Cozens, Mattias Samuelsson Close To Returning

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As the Buffalo Sabres continue to remain in the playoff hunt, they may get a pair of crucial support pieces back in the lineup for their final game before the All-Star break. Head coach Don Granato said today that injured forward Dylan Cozens and defenseman Mattias Samuelsson are “progressing well.”

Both could return to play Wednesday night when Buffalo hosts the Metropolitan Division-leading Carolina Hurricanes. Although it may be a tall task, a win of any kind would propel Buffalo into the second Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference as the break begins, leapfrogging Pittsburgh. Buffalo is in a de facto playoff spot as it stands, as their .571 points percentage sits ahead of Washington’s .558 mark for eighth in the Conference.

Cozens’ and Samuelsson’s injuries have both been short-term, thankfully. Samuelsson missed the past two games with a lower-body injury and should return to his usual place alongside Rasmus Dahlin on the team’s top pairing. Cozens missed just one whole game after leaving last Thursday’s contest against Winnipeg with an upper-body injury late in the game. He’s quietly amidst a strong breakout season, scoring 43 points in 48 games while holding down a top-six center spot behind Tage Thompson.

Rasmus Asplund, despite his solid two-way play, has fallen out of the team’s top 12 forwards this season after the waiver claim of Tyson Jost. He’ll likely exit the lineup for Cozens to make his return.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Gallagher, Brodzinski

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The NHL released its Three Stars for last week, and Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid is back on top. With 11 points in four games, McDavid has extended his league scoring lead to five over teammate Leon Draisaitl and is approaching a level not seen in the league for quite some time. Mario Lemieux is the only player in the last 30 years to score at a pace better than McDavid’s current 1.88 P/GP rate over a full season. If he can keep it up, the Oilers’ captain could join a very select club that has scored more than 150 points in a single season. Only Wayne Gretzky (nine times), Lemieux (four), Steve Yzerman (one), Phil Esposito (one), and Bernie Nicholls (one) have reached that mark.

Second and third went to Dylan Cozens and Jason Robertson, a pair of youngsters that are vying for their own place among the league’s best. The Buffalo Sabres forward had nine points in four games and now has 24 in 25 games during his third season in the league. The 6’3″ center won’t turn 22 until February. Robertson, meanwhile, has been the talk of the hockey world for weeks, as he continues to pace the league in goals with 23 in 25 games. That puts him on pace to score 75, which would be the highest total since Teemu Selanne and Alexander Mogilny both hit 76 in 1992-93.

  • The Montreal Canadiens will be without Brendan Gallagher for the next two weeks, ruling him out with a lower-body injury. He’s going to be joined on the sideline by David Savard, who is listed as day-to-day but continues to be evaluated. While in years past Gallagher’s absence would be a devastating blow to the Canadiens’ forward group, the proverbial torch has been passed this season, with the 30-year-old playing the fewest minutes of his career and subsequently producing at a pedestrian pace. Gallagher has just three goals and eight points in 22 games so far.
  • The up-and-down season continues for Jonny Brodzinski, who is back with the New York Rangers after being sent down yesterday. That’s three transactions in three days for the minor league forward, who has yet to actually play in a game for New York. Through 17 matches with the Hartford Wolf Pack, the 29-year-old has two goals and nine points, not exactly the production he’s used to. Last season, Brodzinski scored 39 in 36 for Hartford while suiting up 22 times in the NHL.

Examining The Buffalo Sabres’ Financial Future

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When Buffalo Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams signed center Tage Thompson to an admittedly massive seven-year contract extension earlier this week, it raised some eyebrows considering the lack of consistency from Thompson in his career. Speaking after the fact a few days ago, Adams told The Buffalo News’ Lance Lysowski that “we’re also being strategic a little bit, to be honest, about the timeline knowing that there’s other guys potentially next summer where we’re going to be in this situation. We want to make sure we’re being strategic on when and how we put these deals together.”

So, given that Adams is envisioning more breakout campaigns from his young stars in 2022-23, how does the Sabres’ financial picture line up with their rise out of their years-long rebuild and the expected salary cap increases?

There are two players next summer who, depending on their campaigns, could demand significant pay raises over their sub-$1MM deals. Both Dylan Cozens and Rasmus Asplund are restricted free agents in 2023, although Cozens does not have arbitration rights.

Cozens is projected to slot right behind Thompson on the team’s depth chart, battling with Casey Mittelstadt for a spot centering their second line. If he wins that battle and sees increased playing time, Cozens’ offensive production is bound to take a step forward from his 38 points last season.

In any event, Cozens’ ceiling likely isn’t the 35+ goal season Thompson is coming off of, either. His development has been more linear, something that tracks well for the Sabres, at least in terms of certainty in contract negotiations. The team still currently has nearly $40MM in cap space to play with next offseason with the projected salary cap increase to $83.5MM, so any major contract the Sabres hand out now really doesn’t force their hand in the slightest.

It’s later on when things would get tricky, when the team is contending and their breakout stars want to capitalize on what should be a rapidly increasing salary cap at that point. From that point of view, betting on their players is a smart move from Adams at the moment. With the team still so far away from the salary cap, it can’t hurt to take a risk on what could be a team-friendly deal in five seasons. Even if the players don’t quite pan out as projected, those are deals that won’t be taking up nearly as much of their salary cap as they are now when they do become an issue.

Though Adams should be careful not to play with too much fire. Recent reports suggest that the first large salary cap jump could come in the 2024 offseason instead of 2025. That would be a boon to the Sabres, who have four major expiring contracts that offseason: Mittelstadt, Peyton Krebs, Rasmus Dahlin, and Owen Power. If everything goes as expected in terms of their development, that could very well be upwards of $30MM handed out just between those four players. If the Sabres put themselves in a position to give those contracts and still have some breathing room, they could finally construct a roster with the required depth to remain at the top of the Eastern Conference.

Hockey Canada Announces 2022 IIHF World Championship Roster

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The roster is set, with just a few days to go before things kick off for Hockey Canada at the 2022 IIHF World Championship. The defending gold medalists will be icing a rather youthful roster this season, highlighted by some of the league’s up-and-coming stars, along with some established top-end youngsters.

The full roster will be:

G Chris Driedger
G Logan Thompson
G Matt Tomkins

D Thomas Chabot
D Ryan Graves
D Nick Holden
D Dysin Mayo
D Travis Sanheim
D Damon Severson
D Zach Whitecloud

F Josh Anderson
F Mathew Barzal
F Drake Batherson
F Max Comtois
F Dylan Cozens
F Pierre-Luc Dubois
F Morgan Geekie
F Noah Gregor
F Kent Johnson
F Adam Lowry
F Dawson Mercer
F Eric O’Dell
F Nicolas Roy
F Cole Sillinger

For a player like Mayo, this selection truly solidifies the hard work he has put in over years of grinding in the minor leagues. The fifth-round pick spent parts of seven seasons in the AHL before arriving this year with the Arizona Coyotes and becoming one of the team’s most reliable options. Now 25, he’ll be suiting up for his country for the first time at a major international tournament.

Meanwhile, someone like Cozens is taking the next step in representing his country, after last captaining Team Canada at the 2021 World Juniors (where he scored an incredible 16 points in seven games). The Buffalo Sabres forward had 38 points in his first full-length NHL season and has huge upside as a potential franchise cornerstone. The same could be said for players like Johnson and Sillinger, two names that will likely drive the offense for years to come in Columbus.

Perhaps the most interesting name in the group is Dubois, given the Winnipeg Jets center doesn’t have a contract for next season. Pending restricted free agents, especially ones as important as Dubois, usually skip the tournament because of insurance issues and the risk of injury. Instead, he’ll head overseas to play in a tournament he’s already attended twice previously, despite still just being 23 years old.

Morning Notes: Rangers, Memorial Cup, Cozens

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Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes was clear today that he’s open for business and just before he spoke to the media, Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweeted out an interesting thought. LeBrun connected the Canadiens with the New York Rangers, suggesting that Montreal “covets” some Rangers prospects and would rather add those than more draft picks.

It’s easy to understand why the Montreal front office could be interested in some of New York’s prospects, given Jeff Gorton was the one who drafted or acquired most of them, before being dismissed a little under a year ago. The Canadiens are also in discussions with former Rangers director of European scouting Nick Bobrov, according to Eric Engels of Sportsnet, who would also have familiarity with many of the team’s young players.

  • The Memorial Cup has new dates after disruptions to the league schedules forced it to be pushed back. The event, which pits the OHL, WHL, and QMJHL champions and a host team against each other, will be held between June 20-29 this year. The Saint John Seadogs will be the host, and will open things up with a game against the OHL champion on the first day. Notably, this will likely be the last big scouting event before the 2022 NHL Draft, which is scheduled for July 7 in Montreal.
  • Dylan Cozens has escaped a suspension but owes the league $2,235.42 for his cross-check on Brock Nelson last night. The young Buffalo Sabres forward will now have a fine on his supplementary discipline record, meaning any future incidents will be looked at with even more scrutiny. Cozens followed Nelson up the ice to deliver the cross-check from behind after it appeared as though the Islanders’ player got his stick between Cozens’ legs and earned a two-minute minor on the play.

East Notes: Zaitsev, Canadiens, Shesterkin, Sabres, Daley

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The Senators will be without defenseman Nikita Zaitsev longer than expected as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch relays (Twitter link) that the veteran hasn’t resumed skating and will likely be out through the end of the month.  Originally, it was expected that he’d miss between three and five weeks due to his heel injury but that will now likely be pushed to six weeks or longer.  The 30-year-old had gotten off to a quiet start to his season with just two points in 22 games while logging 18:32 per night, the lowest ATOI of his career.

More from the Eastern Conference:

  • As a result of seven more players entering COVID protocols in recent days, the Canadiens announced that they are extending their pause for two more days through Saturday. Montreal recently had a game next week against New Jersey postponed and now have nine games that need to be rescheduled.  They’re next scheduled to play on Wednesday against Boston.
  • Still with Montreal, defensive prospect Arber Xhekaj was traded in the OHL as the Hamilton Bulldogs announced his acquisition in exchange for five draft picks along with winger Navrin Mutter. Xhekaj was undrafted in both the OHL and NHL but turned a rookie camp tryout into an entry-level contract with the Canadiens late in the preseason.  Meanwhile, Mutter got into three games with Calgary’s farm team in Stockton last season but no team holds his NHL rights.
  • Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin was a late scratch for their game against Vegas as the Rangers announced (Twitter link) that the netminder was placed into COVID protocol. Assuming it’s for a confirmed positive test, he’ll be out for at least the next five days.  Keith Kinkaid was recalled from the taxi squad in a corresponding roster move.
  • The Sabres got some good news on the COVID protocol front today as the team announced (Twitter link) prior to their game against San Jose that centers Dylan Cozens, Zemgus Girgensons, and Mark Jankowski were all cleared to return. The trio last played on December 17th and each missed three games.
  • While the Florida Everblades of the ECHL raised some eyebrows today when they announced the signing of Penguins staffer Trevor Daley, Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review notes (Twitter link) that Daley will remain in his advisory role with Pittsburgh. With ECHL teams ravaged by COVID-19, injuries and recalls, it appears the Everblades are going to use Daley for a game or two until they get some of their players back.  Daley last played back in the 2019-20 season with Detroit.

Sabres Place Three In COVID Protocol

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The Sabres have announced that head coach Don Granato along with center Dylan Cozens and Mark Jankowski have all been placed in COVID protocol.  They added that all three are currently asymptomatic although under the current NHL protocols, all three will miss at least the next three days.

Cozens is off to a good start to his sophomore season, collecting eight goals and seven assists in 30 games, good for sixth in scoring on the Sabres.  Meanwhile, Jankowski was recently converted to an NHL contract and had played in four games since then, picking up an assist while logging nearly 13 minutes a night in ice time.  The two join Zemgus Girgensons and Vinnie Hinostroza as those that are currently unavailable while Granato is one of eight head coaches currently in COVID protocol.

Buffalo is currently slated to return to the ice on Wednesday against New Jersey unless there are further changes made to the schedule with a decision on that front expected later today.

Atlantic Notes: Cozens, Seider, Sogaard

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With the never-ending rumors of Jack Eichel’s eventual trade on top of the departures of several other core Sabres this summer, its fair to wonder who will fill the leadership vacuum in Buffalo. However, young standout Dylan Cozens is more than ready to take on that role. Appearing on WGR 550 in Buffalo, the 2019 seventh overall pick stated that he is confident in his ability to lead this next generation of Sabres. “I think definitely I could go out and be a leader on this team,” Cozens said. “Just by the way I play, leading by example and being a voice in the room. I think it’s something I’m ready to do. I want to lead by example and be a guy that guys can look to if they need anything or look to to inspire them. That’s what I’ve always been growing up – the guy that wants to lead and do things the right way.” Part of what makes Cozens a great candidate to lead Buffalo for years to come is an optimism that has been missing from other core members through a dark stretch for the franchise. “I think that we’re going to surprise a lot of people this year,” Cozens believes. “Everyone’s doubting us because we’re a young team, but if you look at the second half of last season, we were beating those veteran teams. So I think we’re going to surprise a lot of people and we’re going to have a good year.”

    • The Detroit Red Wings are looking forward to prodigious defenseman Moritz Seider developing into a leader for their club in the future. Yet, he was nowhere to be found on the team’s roster for the upcoming Traverse City Prospects Tournament. However, Red Wings Director of Player Development Shawn Horcoff tells The Athletic’s Max Bultman that this is actually an endorsement of Seider’s position in the organization rather than an indictment. Although Seider has yet to see any NHL action, Detroit is so confident in his ability to make the roster this season that they did not feel they needed to use a roster spot on him in the development tournament. “With Moritz, he’s played two years of pro now – he spent a full year in Grand Rapids, spent a full year over in Europe playing,” Horcoff explained. “Frankly, there’s some younger players that we wanted to see on the (Traverse City Tournament) roster and we just wanted to make sure that Mo was ready to go for main camp.” Fear not, Wings fans; the team clearly has no concerns about their top prospect stepping into the NHL lineup and making an impact this year.
    • The Ottawa Senators could face a difficult decision with young goaltender Mads Sogaard this season. As Bruce Garrioch details for the Ottawa Sun, the impressive prospect keeper could very well be in line for a roster spot at the Olympics for Team Denmark, making their first men’s hockey appearance at the Winter Games. Sogaard served as the team’s backup in qualifying tournaments this summer and while the those contests were played without presumptive starter, the Carolina Hurricanes’ Frederik Andersen, Sogaard is still likely to be the Danes’ first choice at third-string behind Andersen and qualifying starter Sebastian Dahm. The problem is that the AHL does not have an Olympic break like the NHL. While Ottawa’s players will have full flexibility to attend the Games if selected, Belleville’s may not. Garrioch points out that the farm team has ten games during the NHL’s Olympic break and, depending on how the organization’s goalie depth plays out this season, that could be a number of missed starts for Sogaard and a detriment to Belleville as well. The massive 6’7″ keeper had a strong first pro season last year and if fellow promising youngster Filip Gustavsson cracks the Ottawa roster, Sogaard could be the starter for Belleville. Will the Senators allow him to leave the team for an extended period in order to ride the bench for his country?

Snapshots: Blue Jackets, Sabres, Buyouts, DeAngelo

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Between new head coach Brad Larsen, promoted from his previous role as assistant, and newly hired assistants Pascal Vincent and Sylvain Lefebvre, the Blue Jackets will have a combined 15 seasons as NHL assistants, 13 seasons as AHL head coaches, 11 seasons as a junior head coaches, six seasons as AHL assistants, and over 1,200 NHL games played worth of experience behind the bench. The one thing they don’t have? Any experience as an NHL head coach. As Aaron Portzline writes for The Athletic, there is zero NHL head coach experience in the entire Columbus organization right now and while GM Jarmo Kekalainen isn’t worried, he also isn’t above addressing that issue. Kekalainen is at least considering adding an advisor to the coaching staff; a veteran NHL head coach to help guide Larsen and company through their first season with a the re-tooling Blue Jackets. Portzline believes that one name who could certainly be in the mix is Jacques Martin, as the 68-year-old with 16 seasons as an NHL head coach is believed to be looking for this type of role. Other candidates will also surely emerge if and when Columbus decides that they are officially looking to fill the position.

  • Did Buffalo Sabres GM Kevyn Adams tip his hand in a recent interview with Pierre LeBrun for The Athletic? Discussing his team’s rebuilding plans, Adams stated the following:

(Rasmus) Dahlin, (Dylan) Cozens, (Casey) Mittelstadt, these are very, very young players… And I’ve been energized about this young core of Sabres we have that are hungry and they want to be part of the solution. … These guys are proud to be Buffalo Sabres, they want to fix this and get this right, they want to move forward together. So that’s the young core that we’re working to build around.

Sure, these are all key pieces for the Sabres in their rebuild. However, Adams did not mention the likes of Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart, or Victor Olofsson, who are only marginally older than that group. His use of the words “proud to be Buffalo Sabres” and “want to be part of the solution” also feels purposeful, as if there are others on the team who are not and possibly that is why they are no longer part of the rebuild plans. While rumors have been swirling around Eichel and to some extent Reinhart as well, perhaps this is a real indication that Buffalo will be making major changes this summer.

  • The NHL’s buyout window opens 24 hours after the Stanley Cup is awarded, which could be as early as later tonight. In anticipation, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli lists ten names (and some honorable mentions) who could be buyout candidates. While much of this is educated speculation, Seravalli does have a scoop on his No. 1 name on the list, New York Rangers defenseman Anthony DeAngelo. Seravalli reports that the Rangers officially finalized a plan to buyout DeAngelo last week, a move that has been a long time coming since he was placed on leave in January for off-ice conduct. What remains to be seen is when exactly the buyout will be executed. The Rangers don’t need DeAngelo for the upcoming Expansion Draft, with Anthony Bitetto meeting exposure criteria and not expected to be protected, however New York may want to leave him in case they are able to tempt the Seattle. Even if the Kraken don’t bite, DeAngelo’s skill is enough to make him an intriguing free agent this summer following his buyout, even after a year off and some character concerns.

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