Krueger wants Dylan Cozens to start on the Wing

[JohnC]

55 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

 

Based on KA's comments to Howard Simon this AM, I think his near-term expectations for Mitts are pretty low.  He was responding to a question about both Mitts and TT, and he spoke much more positively about TT -- in particular, about how he thinks TT is ready to bust out this year -- while regarding Mitts, he just said that players mature at different rates and he was looking forward to seeing Mitts working hard in camp.  So I don't think he has Mitts penciled in at 3C, or even on the Sabres' roster at all, for this coming season.

 

I agree with you. My takeaway from the interview is that the organization is not giving up on him as a prospect. As you noted he is not penciled in for anything. He is going to have to demonstrate what he is capable of. If he doesn't earn a roster spot I see him going back to the AHL in order to work on his game. The entitlement era is over with. You get what you earn. And that is the right way to conduct business. 

[Taro T]

17 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Right. There should be a little bit more talk about how Cozens is already being penciled in. That's a mistake, if that's what's happening. 

Yes, I definitely think he'll be NHL ready, but that's not the same thing. People seem pretty quick to not only have him in the line-up, but in a Top 6! role, as a rook. 

- - - 

We need to be very, very careful with his development. I ask the board at large, have you thought about where we'd be at if Cozens doesn't pan out? I know we hate thinking about it, but seriously, how do we look at the most important position in hockey if one single prospect doesn't pan out?

It's not like it's one non-pan-out from a tricky situation. We are one non-pan-out from a disaster. The system doesn't have any other centres, and we didn't draft any with second line potential. 

Cozens is still The Plan, as of now. 

IMHO, he should be pencilled in as the 3(rd scoring line) RW and be given the opportunity to earn 2RW or 3C.  But he needs to beat somebody out to get either.

[Thorner]

2 minutes ago, Taro T said:

IMHO, he should be pencilled in as the 3(rd scoring line) RW and be given the opportunity to earn 2RW or 3C.  But he needs to beat somebody out to get either.

I would be expecting zero, but 3rd line W is not a horrible bet, if the pencil absolutely need to be brought out. 

Edited October 8, 2020 by Thorny

[Taro T]

Just now, Thorny said:

I would be expecting zero, but 3rd line W is not a horrible bet. 

:huh:

[Thorner]

12 minutes ago, Taro T said:

:huh:

He's too important. They assuredly should be allowing for the possibility that he doesn't show himself to be NHL ready. It wouldn't be unheard of that even a top prospect was not ready in their second post draft season. I'm not saying that's likely, but when I say "expectation" I'm referring to the strict definition of what we are EXPECTING of him - the bare minimum result I see possible. 

Edited October 8, 2020 by Thorny

[Curt]

58 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

To me this says don't expect a RW via trade or free agency. They'll play Cozens with Staal and if Staal fits maybe extend him a little and then when he retires or fades totally Cozens slides over and the plan would be the best of the wingers from this draft take Cozens spot, presumably Quinn.

Or maybe it says that they plan on acquiring another C?  That could be another perspective.

47 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Yes, I definitely think he'll be NHL ready, but that's not the same thing. People seem pretty quick to not only have him in the line-up, but in a Top 6! role, as a rook. 

People on the board may be penciling him into the top-6 because right now there isn’t anyone else on the roster.  There is a player acquisition period starting tomorrow, let’s see how that goes.

 

[Thorner]

3 minutes ago, Curt said:

Or maybe it says that they plan on acquiring another C?  That could be another perspective.

People on the board may be penciling him into the top-6 because right now there isn’t anyone else on the roster.  There is a player acquisition period starting tomorrow, let’s see how that goes.

 

Haven't heard about this, what's it all about?

- - - 

In seriousness, wasn't referring to the board there, should have clarified. Seeing Cozens penciled in high isn't something that seems all that prevalent around here, tbh. 

Edited October 9, 2020 by Thorny

[Curt]

13 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Haven't heard about this, what's it all about?

It’s a day when hockey players are able to throw off the shackles of indentured servitude and pursue employment any place of their choosing.  Truly a celebration of hockey players’ progress towards social equality and also a reminder of the work still to be done to achieve full employment rights for ice hockey players.

[Xzy89c]

On 9/17/2020 at 4:49 PM, Curt said:

Yeah, scouts may talk like this, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense to use those terms for those player groups.  It just seems like an antiquated holdover from a time when the league was much smaller.

With these definitions, you apparently don’t even need a 1C quality player on your team in order to win a Cup.  Neither WCF teams have one.

 

On 10/8/2020 at 1:04 PM, IKnowPhysics said:

It's one way to go.  The other, of course, being starting him at 4C with veteran wingers.

It comes down to line usage.  If you lean on lines 3/4 to take defense zone starts, you probably want to shelter the kid with more offensive zone starts, so you put him top six, but there's no way you lean on him to be the 2C.  If you chessmatch the lines and shelter line 4 with high OZ% and low quality of competition, you can put Cozens at 4C with support.

Looking at this past year's usage, Girgensens-Larsson-Okposo got the defensive zone starts, and there didn't seem to be much chessmatch-ing against different competition for forwards (although it looks like Oloffson-Eichel-Reinhart attracted the opponent's best players slightly more often).  Those two lines also received the most zone start bias, defensively and offensively, respectively.  The other lines either got mixed usage over the season or weren't biased at all.  If RK runs it the same way again, expect Cozens in at middle-six wing with not much competition sheltering and probably not a whole lot of zone start bias either.

Playing 8 to 10 minutes with crappy players is not a good idea for a skilled scorer.  The sabres are not overflowing with great players.  

21 hours ago, Curt said:

It’s a day when hockey players are able to throw off the shackles of indentured servitude and pursue employment any place of their choosing.  Truly a celebration of hockey players’ progress towards social equality and also a reminder of the work still to be done to achieve full employment rights for ice hockey players.

Made my day....  hockey lives matter