The Cozens Conundrum, 2024-25

[Pimlach]

1 hour ago, Archie Lee said:

How much time did he spend in the Yukon this past offseason?  In Europe?  Training?  

Well Yukon would be going home for him so you really cannot take that away.  They did that summer camp in Europe that Dahlin led.  I don't know how much time he spent training for strength and speed.  

I just want to see him add more to his frame and get stronger.  Whatever it takes to get there.  

[Weave]

I swear I read somewhere that Cozens came into camp 10-15lbs heavier.  Did I imagine that?

[Porous Five Hole]

22 minutes ago, Weave said:

I swear I read somewhere that Cozens came into camp 10-15lbs heavier.  Did I imagine that?

 No, you didn’t imagine it. I heard the same.  He was drafted as a skinny 181 pound guy and he’s now 207 pounds. Given his frame hasn’t changed much, you have to assume it is all muscle. 
 

Hockey players have transitioned to lean and quick body types. It’s more about core work than muscle mass today. I don’t understand the hand-wringing about this with players today.  

[Weave]

35 minutes ago, Porous Five Hole said:

 No, you didn’t imagine it. I heard the same.  He was drafted as a skinny 181 pound guy and he’s now 207 pounds. Given his frame hasn’t changed much, you have to assume it is all muscle. 
 

Hockey players have transitioned to lean and quick body types. It’s more about core work than muscle mass today. I don’t understand the hand-wringing about this with players today.  

In Dylan’s case, some of the hand wringing was related to an all star break photo of him.  He looked downright skinny.  Not thin-for-hockey-player skinny. Just plain skinny.  He looked like he NEEDED mass.  It was the sort of image that provided credence that this roster is just not mature physically.

I was hopefull that Cozens game would mature along with his body.  Part of his struggles this year may be related to adjusting to that extra body weight.

[#freejame]

Mark your calendars. Today is the day Dylan Cozens gets his groove back. 

[nato7412]

34 minutes ago, #freejame said:

Mark your calendars. Today is the day Dylan Cozens gets his groove back. 

why should we believe that?

[#freejame]

28 minutes ago, nato7412 said:

why should we believe that?

[Doohicksie]

2 hours ago, #freejame said:

Mark your calendars. Today is the day Dylan Cozens gets his groove back. 

I'm with you.  I just popped in to say this is the day Cozens breaks out.

[JoeSchmoe]

2 hours ago, #freejame said:

Mark your calendars. Today is the day Dylan Cozens gets his groove back. 

What about Quinn?

[#freejame]

Just now, JoeSchmoe said:

What about Quinn?

Ehhhh, I don’t have that same feeling just yet 

[LTS]

20 hours ago, #freejame said:

Mark your calendars. Today is the day Dylan Cozens gets his groove back. 

Perhaps Cozens needs to take a lesson from Stella as she was apparently able to get her groove back.

 

[Bangarang]

Cozens and Quinn with a combined 1 goal and 4 assists to start the year is quite bad given the expectations 

[mjd1001]

Up until next week, I though Cozens needed to be benched, demoted, etc.  I changed my mind on that last week.

He is playing his game. He is 'playing' pretty much the same as he did 2 years ago. He is just in a 'shooting slump'.  I know people say 'give him new linemates' or 'he needs to be moved to wing**' or 'move him to the 4th line'. I get the frustration, but honestly he is PLAYING almost the exact same way he did 2 years ago positionally, maybe getting even more shots.  He just needs to start converting. His game is no different at all EXCEPT for accuracy. And if you look at his career, he is a very, VERY streaky shooter. He goes months at a time shooting as well as Thompson, then a month or two shooting under 5%. No rhyme or reason for it...its random..and that is who he is.

So, you just wait for him to emerge from this shooting slump. No new teammate, no new line, no new position will help that. We are into 5 seasons of proof that that is who he is regarding shooting.

Now, LONG term, the question is.....you are going to get shooting streaks out of him, but what is he OVERALL? Is he as 12% shooter?  a 9% shooter? a 7% shooter?  You are always going to get streakiness out of him, but IF you determin he is a 10-12% shooter overall, he's your 2nd line center. If he is a 7-9% shooter then even with his 'streakiness', you are wasting valuable minutes giving them to Cozens.

** I personally do think his style of play is better at wing, but it appears no one in coaching/management is going to make that change.

[Taro T]

6 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

Up until next week, I though Cozens needed to be benched, demoted, etc.  I changed my mind on that last week.

He is playing his game. He is 'playing' pretty much the same as he did 2 years ago. He is just in a 'shooting slump'.  I know people say 'give him new linemates' or 'he needs to be moved to wing**' or 'move him to the 4th line'. I get the frustration, but honestly he is PLAYING almost the exact same way he did 2 years ago positionally, maybe getting even more shots.  He just needs to start converting. His game is no different at all EXCEPT for accuracy. And if you look at his career, he is a very, VERY streaky shooter. He goes months at a time shooting as well as Thompson, then a month or two shooting under 5%. No rhyme or reason for it...its random..and that is who he is.

So, you just wait for him to emerge from this shooting slump. No new teammate, no new line, no new position will help that. We are into 5 seasons of proof that that is who he is regarding shooting.

Now, LONG term, the question is.....you are going to get shooting streaks out of him, but what is he OVERALL? Is he as 12% shooter?  a 9% shooter? a 7% shooter?  You are always going to get streakiness out of him, but IF you determin he is a 10-12% shooter overall, he's your 2nd line center. If he is a 7-9% shooter then even with his 'streakiness', you are wasting valuable minutes giving them to Cozens.

** I personally do think his style of play is better at wing, but it appears no one in coaching/management is going to make that change.

Speaking as one who's been advocating putting Peterak on his line, still say it makes sense to do so because by making that change not only will Cozens still be getting chances in HD areas, he'll get them with the goalie not square to him by the time he gets that chance.  THAT's what jump started his scoring 2 years ago and expect it still will.

As for moving him to wing.  Unless they make a trade for another C that can play in the top 2 scoring lines, don't see that happening.  And don't see that sort of trade made when they have Helenius and Östlund down on the farm and Kulich in a year or 2 also might be ready to get moved to C.  (They aren't making a trade for a guy that isn't on Dahlin's overall timeline.)

Could easily see them moving him to W 2 - 3 years down the road.  But as soon as Mittelstadt went out the door, so did any possibility of Dylan moving to wing in the immediate future.  McLeod is a great fit in his current role.  Krebs and Lafferty can handle 4C duty but can't see either being useful in a 2C role.  They don't have anyone else in house they can really consider for a 2C role right now.

[#freejame]

37 minutes ago, LTS said:

Perhaps Cozens needs to take a lesson from Stella as she was apparently able to get her groove back.

 

Turns out I just had indigestion 

[Archie Lee]

2 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

Up until next week, I though Cozens needed to be benched, demoted, etc.  I changed my mind on that last week.

He is playing his game. He is 'playing' pretty much the same as he did 2 years ago. He is just in a 'shooting slump'.  I know people say 'give him new linemates' or 'he needs to be moved to wing**' or 'move him to the 4th line'. I get the frustration, but honestly he is PLAYING almost the exact same way he did 2 years ago positionally, maybe getting even more shots.  He just needs to start converting. His game is no different at all EXCEPT for accuracy. And if you look at his career, he is a very, VERY streaky shooter. He goes months at a time shooting as well as Thompson, then a month or two shooting under 5%. No rhyme or reason for it...its random..and that is who he is.

So, you just wait for him to emerge from this shooting slump. No new teammate, no new line, no new position will help that. We are into 5 seasons of proof that that is who he is regarding shooting.

Now, LONG term, the question is.....you are going to get shooting streaks out of him, but what is he OVERALL? Is he as 12% shooter?  a 9% shooter? a 7% shooter?  You are always going to get streakiness out of him, but IF you determin he is a 10-12% shooter overall, he's your 2nd line center. If he is a 7-9% shooter then even with his 'streakiness', you are wasting valuable minutes giving them to Cozens.

** I personally do think his style of play is better at wing, but it appears no one in coaching/management is going to make that change.

All of this is reasoned, but doesn’t mean he would not benefit from playing with better linemates. Per MoneyPuck, Cozens, Quinn, Kulich have the worst Corsi/Fenwick %’s on the team. That’s partly on Cozens to be sure (not just blaming his linemates).  But, Cozens has basically not played 5v5 without one of Quinn or Kulich; per Dobber Frozen Tools, more than 85% of his even strength shifts have been with one of Quinn or Kulich.  Better linemates would not necessarily get Cozens out of his shooting slump. Fans would be more tolerant of the lack of offensive production though, if he was on an effective line that was winning the possession and expected goal battles. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

Dear Lindy,

Please try Cozen’s on the wing!  Please!

I know Quinn hasn’t earned the job, but I’d like to see how the following looks

JJP TNT Quinn

Cozens McLeod Tuch

Zucker Benson/Krebs/Kulich Greenway

Whomever Lafferty Whomever

[Weave]

53 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Dear Lindy,

Please try Cozen’s on the wing!  Please!

I know Quinn hasn’t earned the job, but I’d like to see how the following looks

JJP TNT Quinn

Cozens McLeod Tuch

Zucker Benson/Krebs/Kulich Greenway

Whomever Lafferty Whomever

Blowing up the only two lines that really looked effective seems like a bad idea.  But thats just me.

[Kr632]

On 10/28/2024 at 12:21 PM, Weave said:

In Dylan’s case, some of the hand wringing was related to an all star break photo of him.  He looked downright skinny.  Not thin-for-hockey-player skinny. Just plain skinny.  He looked like he NEEDED mass.  It was the sort of image that provided credence that this roster is just not mature physically.

I was hopefull that Cozens game would mature along with his body.  Part of his struggles this year may be related to adjusting to that extra body weight.

Off topic but met Thompson after a game in Arizona. He had his shirt off for a second. He makes snoop dogg look jacked. It’s crazy how skinny hockey players are. 

Edited October 29 by Kr632

[mjd1001]

28 minutes ago, Kr632 said:

Off topic but met Thompson after a game in Arizona. He had his shirt off for a second. He makes snoop dogg look jacked. It’s crazy how skinny hockey players are. 

Ok, I obviously never played hockey at a higher level than recreation...but...

-As fighting goes away and hits are more regulated, speed/quickness/'shiftiness' becomes slightly more important than strength used to be

-Speaking from experience on the ice, a really big, strong guy won't come out ahead of a collision on the ice vs a thinner guy IF the thin guy has great balance and can 'regulate' himself on his skates better than the 'bigger guy'.

-Endurance.  Endurance I think is become a huge issue the last 10-15 years in hockey. Carrying around any un-needed weight hurts you and makes you a liability at the end of any shift over 45 seconds.

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 hour ago, Weave said:

Blowing up the only two lines that really looked effective seems like a bad idea.  But thats just me.

This was my first instinct as well and wrote earlier that I doubted whether Lindy would change things when he had 2 lines working.  

However, Cozens and Quinn are too talented to not get anything from them and they are not working as linemates.  Unfortunately to try to get them going means changing up the lines.  The other issue is what is the highest and best use of Dylan Cozens.  I think his best position is as a winger.  I remember that moving Casey to the wing got him going, helped him gain confidence and he was able to migrate back to center and remain effective.  

McLeod as also played so well, that it couldn't hurt to try him with scoring wingers like Cozens and Tuch.

 

[PerreaultForever]

On 10/28/2024 at 9:14 AM, Weave said:

I swear I read somewhere that Cozens came into camp 10-15lbs heavier.  Did I imagine that?

I remember reading that too, but it's had zero impact. I've noticed several times in games he's been in the right spot and he puts a "hit" on the opposing player but with no effect. The opponent doesn't even budge. Cozens "hit" was nothing. So he might have put on weight or muscle but he's certainly not playing like he's any stronger. 

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, Weave said:

Blowing up the only two lines that really looked effective seems like a bad idea.  But thats just me.

There's logic to that, but you can't win too many hockey games with only 2 lines. You can get away with 3 working and limit the ice time of the 4th but 2 good lines and 2 bad ones isn't a winning formula. 

Cozens plays smaller than he is. Quinn can't seem to play through traffic at all. That line desperately needs a rugged physical winger. We don't really have that guy though so Lindy tinkers around. 

[Porous Five Hole]

9 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Dear Lindy,

Please try Cozen’s on the wing!  Please!

I hesitated on this until now due to the contract that Cozens got, but it’s time to try this.  Dylan needs to understand that we don’t need him to be a goal scorer…we need him to be Captain Canada.  
Do the little things that it takes to win (finish every check hard, kill penalties, be nasty after the whistle).  He can earn his paycheck and earn a letter in more ways than scoring goals.  Putting him on the wing to figure this out may be the way for Dylan to figure his crap out. 

[Pimlach]

3 minutes ago, Porous Five Hole said:

I hesitated on this until now due to the contract that Cozens got, but it’s time to try this.  Dylan needs to understand that we don’t need him to be a goal scorer…we need him to be Captain Canada.  
Do the little things that it takes to win (finish every check hard, kill penalties, be nasty after the whistle).  He can earn his paycheck and earn a letter in more ways than scoring goals.  Putting him on the wing to figure this out may be the way for Dylan to figure his crap out. 

Which means make a trade to bring in a center that pushes Cozens to wing.  Adam’s has Östlund, Helenius, etc. Will he make a trade for a center?  His past history says no.