Buffalo Sabres: 3 reasons Dylan Cozens will be a team captain
Buffalo Sabres center Dylan Cozens may be young and inconsistent. But his appearance at development camp shows he is team captain material.
Earlier in the offseason, I conducted a poll for Buffalo Sabres fans, asking them who I thought the next team captain should be. While Kyle Okposo won out and is the likeliest choice for captain in 2022-23, many also mentioned Dylan Cozens.
Whether Okposo remains in Buffalo long-term is irrelevant. He will either be the Sabres captain for his swan song in the Queen City, or he will sign a long-term deal and play out the rest of his career here. In the latter case, he will probably wear the C patch for an extended period.
Alex Tuch will most likely wear the C after Okposo. Meaning at the absolute worst, Cozens will be one of two Buffalo Sabres to wear the A.
So what are the odds of the C going to Cozens? It is a longshot. But when you break things down, it is easy to see why Cozens is such a popular pick among fans to eventually become a team captain.
Why Dylan Cozens will be a captain someday: Reason #1 – Desire to become a mentor
During Buffalo Sabres development camp, Cozens went out of his way to visit the team’s prospects. Cozens, however, has had his eye on the prospect pipeline since the 2022 NHL Draft, when he remained in contact with head coach Don Granato via text message.
Cozens was excited about the new additions. And Granato was quick to let Cozens know how involved the center would be with the new prospects.
“These are the guys you’re going to be mentoring.” Granato texted. – via Buffalo Hockey Beat
Cozens replied that it would be an honor, and he followed that up by making the trip to camp on Thursday. After watching practice, Cozens then took the opportunity to mingle with the prospects,
Among the most important aspects of his visit was that he let the prospects know the main roster is taking notice. They want nothing but success from everyone in the pipeline. And in doing so, it continues to add to the Sabres culture change that general manager Kevyn Adams and Granato have headed up.
Work ethic
We all know that in the second half of the 2021-22 Buffalo Sabres season, Cozens’ production tanked from a scoring standpoint. And it was something the middle six center insisted he’d improve this offseason.
Cozens is probably well aware of the expectations set for him. Alex Brown of Die By the Blade gave his firm assessment of the then-second-year center. Here is a snippet of what Brown said in his Player Report Card regarding Cozens:
While Cozens is only 21 years old and still has a lot of time to grow, I was honestly expecting a little more out of him statistically this past season, particularly in the goal scoring area of his game. – Alex Brown, via Die By the Blade.
it didn’t take the frustrated Cozens long to get to work. And if he figures out how to put together a full successful season, the Workhorse from Whitehorse will move one step closer to becoming an eventual alternate captain, if not more.
Energy and selflessness
Very few players display the energy and selflessness of a lower-liner yet project to find a spot on the top half of the middle six. But Cozens is definitely an outlier. His on-ice tenacity is bar-none, as shown during the Heritage Classic when he laid out Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs following the incident with Rasmus Dahlin that occurred earlier in the contest.
While there are other players in the National Hockey League like Cozens, the above clip shows that selfless enforcer mentality. And yes, while it’s true that you don’t want to see a team captain doing this kind of stuff – if Cozens reaches that milestone – it also shows a team-first mentality, and that no one is going to get one over on his team, displaying just how much more of a tight-knit group the Sabres are with Cozens.
Hot. More reasons the Sabres won the Eichel trade. light
So will Cozens end up wearing the C patch in the future? It will come down between him, Alex Tuch, and Rasmus Dahlin, with Tuch serving as the favorite. But, as mentioned in the first slide, you can expect Cozens to receive the A patch in the not-so-distant future.
Article Sources
2022 Player Report Card: Dylan Cozens by Alex Brown.
Dylan Cozens illustrates leadership by visiting Sabres’ prospects by Bill Hoppe