Sabres news: Cozens brings some much needed “fight” to this team

The Buffalo Sabres seemed to have found a keeper in rookie forward Dylan Cozens. The Workhorse from Whitehorse has looked very stellar as a rookie in this league so far this season, and the Sabres faithful should be excited to watch him develop in Buffalo.

Cozens has played in 15 games so far for the Sabres this season. In those 15 games, he has three goals and one assist. These stats won’t raise many eyebrows, but watching him play every game shows that he is a valuable piece of this team; stats certainly don’t tell the entire story.

You also have to remember that no one on the Sabres is lighting up the scoreboard right now. His three goals have him tied for the fourth-most goals on the team. He has the same amount of goals as Eric Staal, and he has more than Jack Eichel and Taylor Hall.

But his game is so much more than just stacking goal and assist stats. He is a vital piece of the Sabres roster that already has a handful of big-name players, and he is making a sizable impact. He makes the team noticeably better around him when he is on the ice, and he is only 20 years old. He is definitely someone that can handle a sizable leadership role with the Sabres.

His biggest impact play of the season happened on Tuesday night against the Rangers, and it wasn’t an assist or goal; it was a fight. With 12:49 left in the third period and with Buffalo down a goal, Dylan dropped the gloves with Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren, and it is safe to say that the 20-year-old rookie got the best of the New York defender.

This is something that the Sabres have been missing all season. They seem to have no fight, no grit. After the game, Kyle Okposo said that after the fight, it was the most “fired up” Buffalo had been all year. Why does it take the rookie to fight someone for them to be the most pumped up they have been all year? All the props in the world go to Dylan Cozens, and hopefully, the rest of the team was taking some notes on Cozens’ energy.

The Sabres have really looked flat during games lately. They need someone to step up to be that ultra enforcer type to inject some energy into the team. It does not just need to be one person either—the more people that bring energy like that, the better.

We will see if that “fired up” mentality that stemmed from Dylan’s fight will carry over into tonight. The Sabres will look to end their current slump on Long Island tonight against the Islanders.