Cozens is terrible on the PK and should not be out there.

[mjd1001]

I watched the replays of the goals, and the same thing I don't like about Cozens happened again, he just doesn't learn.

Last year we talked about, and I posted some pictures/videos that showed the Sabres PK was actually really good WHEN guys held position in the traditional PK box.  It caused the other team to pass the puck around the perimeter, but they basically didn't allow many good scoring chances. 

When the Sabres got in trouble on the PK last year, it was mostly when they lost discipline. When they started chasing the puck. And the #1 offender of doing that and allowing goals was Cozens.

Some things just don't change.

Look at the replay of the first goal allowed last night and watch Cozens.

About 4 seconds before the goal was scored, Cozens takes himself out of position, on the wrong side of the ice near the blue line. You can already see the #41 on the penguins wide open, as Cozens 'chased'. That was the guy that took the wide open shot that was deflected in as a goal.

 

about 3 seconds before the goal was scored:

-Cozens went from being out of position up high, to chasing the puck into the corner WAY down low, had zero chance of getting it and totally took himself out of the play. You can see #41 is wide open, waiting for the clear pass that he turns into the shot that eventually went in

 

[mjd1001]

about 2 seconds before the goal was scored:

Now Cozens is way out of the play, he tries to get back over to his slot but he has zero chance. 

 

[pastajoe]

That’s why they try players in situations during preseason. I expect Greenway will be on PK1, and perhaps McLeod.

[mjd1001]

Finally 1 second before the goal was scored. Quinn is up high but trying to defend 2 people up high. The D-man down low has to kinda play half way between both guys on the near side. Cozens has been out of position for the last few seconds, the D-man has to make a choice, drop down low to cover the guy near the crease, leaving the shooter WIDE open and can basically sit there with all the time in the world analyzing the situation.....OR...he can take cozens spot and challenge the shooter, leaving the guy down low wide open.

Cozens leaves the D-man in a no-win situation, and the area he vacated was where the goal came from. If Cozens was where he was supposed to be, the guy taking the shot wouldn't have so much space and so much time AND the guy who tips the puck in could be covered better by the D-man on that side.

He did this ALL last year, he was a disaster on the PK. He got slightly better, but this happens with him time and time again. How can the coaches not see this and not correct it? and if he refuses to learn why is he out there?

 

4 minutes ago, pastajoe said:

That’s why they try players in situations during preseason. I expect Greenway will be on PK1, and perhaps McLeod.

I get it, but my bigger issue is why Cozens doesn't learn. He is used out there pretty frequently, last year and the year before, and he does this all the time.  

How can he not figure out that he is the single biggest detriment to the Sabres PK and he keeps on doing it?

 

BTW, he also does this even strength. When the Sabres get pinned in their own zone, he will start chasing the puck all over the ice like a dog chasing a squirrel. Often times goals are scored because of his lack of discipline that way. Now the 2nd half of last year he got better, but its just a little discouraging to see him so blatantly go back to bad habits less than 5 minutes into the first preseason game.

Edited September 22 by mjd1001

[PerreaultForever]

Except, it's okay for you for Quinn to be up high chasing a defender but not for Cozens, he has to be everywhere right?

I will bet you that Lindy has told Cozens to attack the point. It's the D's job to box out and cover the slot. 

[mjd1001]

14 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

Except, it's okay for you for Quinn to be up high chasing a defender but not for Cozens, he has to be everywhere right?

I will bet you that Lindy has told Cozens to attack the point. It's the D's job to box out and cover the slot. 

If you watched the replay, even equating what Quinn does to what Cozens did is just WAY off base.

Quinn is staying in close to his position. Please show me where Quinn chased a guy up high and totally opened up a wide area of the ice that the opposing team took advantage of.

I'd like to think Lindy didn't give Cozens free authority to go all the way across the ice, all the way to the blue line, then crosses both Quinn and the D-man down low, gets stuck in the corner across the ice from where he is supposed to be, and then the shot leading to the goal being scored is taken from the spot on the ice that is now 100% vacated by him.

I don't have a problem with Cozens pressuring a guy up high if its the right time. I do have a problem with him chasing the puck all around the ice, while his teammates stay in position, attempting to cover for him until its just too much to do.

Quinn did nothing even close to being out of position as Cozens, are you even watching the same goal? 

There is a difference between chasing a defender up high..and what Cozens did. Cozens chases the defender a LOT higher, goes all they way across the ice, then goes all the way into the corner.

What Cozens did wrong isn't even close to what Quinn did.

Edited September 22 by mjd1001

[GASabresIUFAN]

Didn't we acquire McLeod, Malenstyn, Zucker, Kube, Lafferty & Greenway to kill penalties?   

[mjd1001]

5 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Didn't we acquire McLeod, Malenstyn, Zucker, Kube, Lafferty & Greenway to kill penalties?   

Hopefully. Last year Cozens got the 2nd most minutes penalty killing under Granato, and he was on the first pk unit at the start of the game yesterday under Ruff. Maybe once the full lineup is playing, those guys will be on the ice instead.

Last year, the top 6 guys in terms of Short handed time on ice per game played among forwards were Greenway, Tuch, Cozens, Quinn, Zemgus and Tage. Of those 6, Cozens was on the ice for the most goals allowed per 60 minutes (9.06). The 2nd worst was Greenway at 6.48. The 'eye test' watching him way out of position leads one to think he is the worst on the team at penalty killing. The stats back up that he is the worst on the team at penalty killing (by quite a bit).

As you said, I hope those other guys are on the PK, but seeing Cozens out there right away in preseason game one, and seeing just how bad he did is something that was noticeable and I didn't like.

Edited September 23 by mjd1001

[PerreaultForever]

8 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Didn't we acquire McLeod, Malenstyn, Zucker, Kube, Lafferty & Greenway to kill penalties?   

Don't think they are all PK bound. I doubt Malentsyn is, Lafferty, Greenway and McLeod probably. No idea on Zucker. 

[Broken Ankles]

30 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

Don't think they are all PK bound. I doubt Malentsyn is, Lafferty, Greenway and McLeod probably. No idea on Zucker. 

Why wouldn’t he be?  He had more TOI last year than Greenway did on the PK.  (214 vs 194).  Not great results per 60, as noted above, but I can’t see a reason why he isn’t one of the top 4 forwards going forward.  Beck even played the PK last night.  Maybe Ruff just wanted to see Cozens for himself.  I’m no fan of him, Tage, or Quinn playing those minutes.  

[PerreaultForever]

44 minutes ago, Broken Ankles said:

Why wouldn’t he be?  He had more TOI last year than Greenway did on the PK.  (214 vs 194).  Not great results per 60, as noted above, but I can’t see a reason why he isn’t one of the top 4 forwards going forward.  Beck even played the PK last night.  Maybe Ruff just wanted to see Cozens for himself.  I’m no fan of him, Tage, or Quinn playing those minutes.  

Well sure, anybody could be the guys Ruff uses but I don't see that as one of his skills. Maybe he surprises, but right now he's just a marginal NHLer 4th line banger. 

[B-U-F-F-A-L-O]

12 hours ago, pastajoe said:

That’s why they try players in situations during preseason. I expect Greenway will be on PK1, and perhaps McLeod.

They are absolutely on pK one…. But this is disturbing. This is supposed to pro hockey and that should never happen, not even once…Makes me think it is all just a show….

[Pimlach]

How about relax and give Ruff a few games to evaluate his roster?  

[SABRES 0311]

Cozens should just focus on 5 on 5 and 2PP. Nothing more. Be the physical presence on the second line, drive to the net, protect the puck, create room and chances.

[Demoted]

It's preseason isn't it?

[mjd1001]

1 hour ago, Demoted said:

It's preseason isn't it?

Yes, it is, but in the first period of the first preseason game under the new coach, I would hope we wouldn't have somebody do something egregious as that, especially when the other three players seem to be holding their position. 

The main reason I brought this up is that last year, I posted many threads similar to this with the exact same thing. The sabres gave up a power play goal or they gave up a goal where the opposition was cycling the puck in their own end and everyone did what they were supposed to do except Cozens He was all over the ice... And Cozens left his spot wide open and a goal was scored from there. 

If it happens once or twice, okay mistakes are made. But it happens so often. 10 to 15 times per season. And it's always him. And it never changes.

I guess for the team's sake,  just don't play him in those situations and you'll be fine. But the thing that's troubling for me, is why is he not changing his game? It's something that someone in Peewee hockey should learn... Stay in your position. When you get out of position, opportunities are given up and goals are scored against us. Just stay in your position like all of your teammates are doing every shift.

It's not a little error, it's not being out of position by 1 to 2 ft... It's basically everyone being where they're supposed to be and Cozens going 100% rogue like he's playing NHL 25 with his friends on PS5 or Xbox.

[dudacek]

Sometimes things like these can be a little hard to judge.

Im thinking of Lindy’s post-game after the opener, when he was asked about giveaways.

He said something to the effect of “it wasn’t the passer’s fault, the other guy didn’t do what he was supposed to do.”

Now don’t get me wrong, I find it hard to believe Cozens is being asked to cover that much territory and your post makes sense,

My point is, I’m not sure what it is Cozens has been asked to do.

Usually, if a player is blowing his assignment, he stops getting the assignment; that’s certainly been Lindy’s MO in the past.

So I guess we’ll see.

[Drag0nDan]

I'd personally like to see him more active between the blue lines in 5x5, and tying up those high slot follow-ups that have given buffalo problems.  

The only time i like to attack a PP is if they have a guy like olofsson who can get swallowed up on the wall and doesn't have a ton of confidence.  Which... teams did to us pretty consistently last year.  

[JoeSchmoe]

22 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

I watched the replays of the goals, and the same thing I don't like about Cozens happened again, he just doesn't learn.

Last year we talked about, and I posted some pictures/videos that showed the Sabres PK was actually really good WHEN guys held position in the traditional PK box.  It caused the other team to pass the puck around the perimeter, but they basically didn't allow many good scoring chances. 

When the Sabres got in trouble on the PK last year, it was mostly when they lost discipline. When they started chasing the puck. And the #1 offender of doing that and allowing goals was Cozens.

Some things just don't change.

Look at the replay of the first goal allowed last night and watch Cozens.

About 4 seconds before the goal was scored, Cozens takes himself out of position, on the wrong side of the ice near the blue line. You can already see the #41 on the penguins wide open, as Cozens 'chased'. That was the guy that took the wide open shot that was deflected in as a goal.

 

about 3 seconds before the goal was scored:

-Cozens went from being out of position up high, to chasing the puck into the corner WAY down low, had zero chance of getting it and totally took himself out of the play. You can see #41 is wide open, waiting for the clear pass that he turns into the shot that eventually went in

 

This is all kind of like that Ray Bourque guy. He should never be on the ice in playoff OT... 

 

 

[matter2003]

[Rasmus_]

Also maybe Cozens is making an impression?  Furthermore, its game one of a preseason where the Penguins barely played veterans.  Overreacting central.  Coming from someone with a perpetual Sabres short fuse.

[mjd1001]

14 minutes ago, Rasmus_ said:

Also maybe Cozens is making an impression?  Furthermore, its game one of a preseason where the Penguins barely played veterans.  Overreacting central.  Coming from someone with a perpetual Sabres short fuse.

I'm not sure what kind of impression he wants to make. As per my other analogy, that is like a CB in football being told the a certain play is a zone Defense, and he decides to just ignore that, the rest of the team continues to play zone and he just chases the ball around the field leaving his zone wide open?  I mean, that is exactly what he did.  Unless he really wants Lindy to think negatively of him I cannot imagine what kind of impression he is trying to make (if you haven't yet, watch the replay of the goal and focus on Cozens, it really is that bad)

My whole point is it isn't an over-reaction when he did this pretty much all last year. Maybe he got a bit better at the end of last season, but the clips of him way out of position I posted, that happened many times with him last year.

Preseason game one could be an over-reaction. But when a player has a problem with a certain aspect of their game that is a major problem, and the very first chance they have they show it again in a big way, its worth taking note of.

Edited September 23 by mjd1001

[Taro T]

Only focused on Cozens on the PK on the Benson penalty.  He was out there with Thompson and he did a very good job of staying where he was supposed to be.  Extremely small sample size (~30 seconds) but he was doing what he was supposed to for at least that segment.

[Sabres73]

Cozens is still learning and being coached. It would be irresponsible to just throw in the towel on the PK this early in his career. He can be a PK stalwart for years if he's given some rope.

[JoeSchmoe]

This thread is pointless with its small sample size.

Here's the stats from last year from our PK'ers with at least 100min of 4 on 5.

Cozens is ok. Tuch is the best.

As I said before, it's like saying Bourque sucks in overtime. Sample size is important.