Dylan Cozens Appreciation Thread

[IKnowPhysics]

After Ryan Lindgren made the mistake of asking an eager Dylan Cozens to dance and getting his mouthpiece ejected last night, Cozens deserves his own thread.

Cozens' postgame cites his upbringing in Whitehorse, Yukon as a driving force in his work ethic:

He's the first Yukoner to be drafted in the first round (2019, 7th overall) and only the fourth ever to be drafted.

In juniors, Cozens played for the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the WHL, serving as captain during his final year, in which he recorded 38G 47A 85P in 51GP.  This gives Cozens an NHL equivalency of 41P in 82 NHL GP.

Cozens has played 15 of the 20 Sabres games this season, but despite only scoring 3G 1A 4P in 15GP so far this season (82GP pace of 16G 5A 21P) and playing mostly being centered by Staal and Eakin, it's easy to see his potential.  When Cozens gets ice time, his 5v5 GF/60 is the highest among Sabre forwards at 2.81GF/60.  He shoots the puck (5v5 CF/60) more than any Sabre outside of Taylor Hall.  If Cozens had played Jack Eichel's 277.6min of 5v5 ice time (opponents, linemates, and usage notwithstanding) as opposed to his 170.5min, Cozens' goal scoring pace would have already have him at 13G (good enough for 3rd in the league currently) and be on pace for a 60G 82GP season.

 

Understandably, Whitehorse is going bananas for Cozens as a Sabre.

Quote

 Local sporting good stores have sold out of Sabres merchandise. Kids around the city routinely wear Cozens’ jersey, and Sabres games are mandatory viewing in Whitehorse. When Cozens scored his first career NHL goal last Friday on a highlight-reel snipe from the right circle in Washington, applause erupted inside The Ridge Pub.

“The place went bananas,” said Malchow. ...

“I think anybody between the ages of 11 and 15 is a huge Buffalo and Dylan Cozens fan now. I don’t think any of these kids could have named more than Jack Eichel on that Buffalo team before. Now they can probably tell you everybody’s stats.” ...

“Buffalo, in the Yukon, you’ve got 40,000 new fans,” said Curtis. “I’ve been a Canucks fan my whole life and I’ve given up on them. We’re definitely the Buffalo of the north now, I’ll tell ya. We’re proud of him for sure.”

And we should be too.  He's a bright spot in a dreary season.

Edited March 3, 2021 by IKnowPhysics

[#freejame]

Great looking hair, something our center spine is lacking. 

[Thorner]

WfW

Just now, #freejame said:

Great looking hair, something our center spine is lacking. 

We’ve been trying to get Reinhart to centre for a reason

[Cal Naughton Jr]

 

- People who are mad that he fought last night 

[#freejame]

Just now, Last Eichel Fan said:

WfW

We’ve been trying to get Reinhart to centre for a reason

Synergy and flow go hand in hand. You would think a man such as Ralph would have picked up on that energy and made the change. 

[PerreaultForever]

I love this kid's game and wish there was a way he could be captain now. Anyone on this roster who doesn't rise up and try to match this kid's play should be shipped out of town..............so just about everybody. 

Some of you might remember I was saying my daughter was in high school one year with Cozens when he was at the hockey academy. I was joking with her last night that I wished she'd dated him so I could start making plans for my favourite son in law. She was not amused 🙂

 

[Weave]

Mouthpiece ejecta needs to become this kids legacy.

[dudacek]

13 minutes ago, #freejame said:

Great looking hair, something our center spine is lacking. 

 

12 minutes ago, Last Eichel Fan said:

WfW

We’ve been trying to get Reinhart to centre for a reason

 

11 minutes ago, #freejame said:

Synergy and flow go hand in hand. You would think a man such as Ralph would have picked up on that energy and made the change. 

 

On the other hand...

 

[Thorner]

There are a lot of “goofy” haircuts on this team that turn to “hip” if we actually won hockey games, just sayin’ 

[IKnowPhysics]

First goal:

 

Second goal (2:34)

 

Third goal (5:55)

 

[#freejame]

23 minutes ago, dudacek said:

 

 

 

On the other hand...

 

Don’t you know? Facts mean nothing here. Outside of Samson our hair is holding us back. 

[LGR4GM]

1 hour ago, Cal Naughton Jr said:

 

- People who are mad that he fought last night 

[Cal Naughton Jr]

3 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

[SDS]

Larger arguments about the game and associated interpretations aside, Cozen’s fight last night was “better” than the highlight reel of Andrew Peter‘s entire career.

[Palm Trees And Taxes]

Watching and listening to Dylan Cozens puts me so much more at ease about thinking about the idea that the Sabres could/should trade Jack Eichel.

Very confident in Cozens and his abilities and can easily see him as the face and leader of this franchise.

Imagine what the Sabres could get for Eichel to build the pieces around Cozens.

I am 100000000000 percent on board with this.

[Weave]

2 minutes ago, SDS said:

Larger arguments about the game and associated interpretations aside, Cozen’s fight last night was “better” than the highlight reel of Andrew Peter‘s entire career.

Post- andro anyway.

[Brawndo]

3 minutes ago, Ruff Around The Edges said:

Watching and listening to Dylan Cozens puts me so much more at ease about thinking about the idea that the Sabres could/should trade Jack Eichel.

Very confident in Cozens and his abilities and can easily see him as the face and leader of this franchise.

Imagine what the Sabres could get for Eichel to build the pieces around Cozens.

I am 100000000000 percent on board with this.

Or better yet, how about building around BOTH Eichel and Cozens. 
 

[dudacek]

3 minutes ago, Ruff Around The Edges said:

Watching and listening to Dylan Cozens puts me so much more at ease about thinking about the idea that the Sabres could/should trade Jack Eichel.

Very confident in Cozens and his abilities and can easily see him as the face and leader of this franchise.

Imagine what the Sabres could get for Eichel to build the pieces around Cozens.

I am 100000000000 percent on board with this.

I love Dylan Cozens and am excited about his future, too.

But I also remember how Henri Jokiharju became an untouchable last year, how Rasmus Dahlin was going to be the greatest since Denis Potvin, and how Casey Mittelstadt was the best prospect outside the NHL.

 

6 hours ago, dudacek said:

Since this seems to be the designated Cozens for captain thread, I guess I’ll put this here.

Not sure what it says about the players, the coach, or the fans, but it’s interesting.

Per 60 this season:

• Hits: Okposo 4.20 Cozens 3.34
• Blocked shots: Okposo 0.90 Cozens 1.52
• Giveaways: Okposo 1.20 Cozens 1.52
• Takeaways: Okposo 1.20 Cozens 1.21
• ice time: Okposo 13.20 Cozens 13.09
• Corsi: Okposo 46.2% Cozens 48.4%
• Fenwick: Okposo 45.1% Cozens 46.6%
• Expected goals: Okposo .46 Cozens .56
• Offensive zone starts: Okposo 44.6% Cozens 46.7%
• PDO: Okposo 93.3 Cozens 102.8

I mean, it kinda looks like they are almost the same player, with Cozens having more luck (PDO)

 

 

Kyle Okposo is a standup teammate too.

[Palm Trees And Taxes]

1 minute ago, Brawndo said:

Or better yet, how about building around BOTH Eichel and Cozens. 
 

In a perfect world I would love to see that happen.

But it all depends how Jack really feels about being here long term etc.

 

[Cal Naughton Jr]

3 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Or better yet, how about building around BOTH Eichel and Cozens. 
 

Best cast scenario. Has Jack checked out already?

[SDS]

8 minutes ago, Weave said:

Post- andro anyway.

To be fair I probably haven’t seeing all the highlights, but the impression burned in my mind is Peters grabbing someone’s jersey and spinning in circles for 45 seconds and then throwing his celebratory hands in the air on his way to the penalty box.

[Cal Naughton Jr]

3 minutes ago, SDS said:

To be fair I probably haven’t seeing all the highlights, but the impression burned in my mind is Peters grabbing someone’s jersey and spinning in circles for 45 seconds and then throwing his celebratory hands in the air on his way to the penalty box.

I actually looked on YouTube. He has 2 highlight videos on there. I started watching one of them, I got about 30 seconds into it and realized that I was completely wasting my time

[Weave]

18 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I love Dylan Cozens and am excited about his future, too.

But I also remember how Henri Jokiharju became an untouchable last year, how Rasmus Dahlin was going to be the greatest since Denis Potvin, and how Casey Mittelstadt was the best prospect outside the NHL.

 

 

Kyle Okposo is a standup teammate too.

Yeah, anyone still raving about our annual new toy hasn’t learned their lessons.

[Kruppstahl]

Not a bad scrap at all, but the key wasn't the fight itself.  It was that he was willing to fight at all.

Total character move; he's your next captain when Eichel is gone.

And he's so lanky right now!  Wait til this kid puts on 20 pounds of muscle..he's going to be a beast at 6'3".

 

 

[Weave]

15 minutes ago, SDS said:

To be fair I probably haven’t seeing all the highlights, but the impression burned in my mind is Peters grabbing someone’s jersey and spinning in circles for 45 seconds and then throwing his celebratory hands in the air on his way to the penalty box.

He was an aggressive fighter before he stopped using supplements.  And that was pretty early in his career.  My recollection is that he got caught or admitted to using supplements and he stopped using them afterward and he changed.  Not surprising given what we know about what they do to your personality.

Most of his time in the NHL was spent trying to be an enforcer without actually getting hit.