The Buffalo Sabres showing they are in great shape down the middle
By Zach Jezioro
For the first time in perhaps over a decade, the Buffalo Sabres find themselves loaded throughout the middle of their lineup.
Centers Tage Thompson and Dylan Cozens have been at another level for the Buffalo Sabres in the middle of what’s becoming a spectacular lineup. We’ll break down each player in a minute, but Thompson and Cozens are pretty similar in regards to starting with the Sabres. Tage was the main piece in the Ryan O’Reilly deal back in the Summer of 2018 when he came to Buffalo with Patrik Berglund and Vladimir Sobotka.
As for Cozens, he was the Sabres first round pick (7th overall) in the 2019 NHL Draft. When he was drafted, some fans wanted Trevor Zegras or Matt Boldy, which led to some anger amongst the fanbase. It was a very talented draft class but it looks like the Sabres nailed the pick.
Buffalo Sabres got it right with Tage, Cozens
So how are these two similar? When it comes to being on the Sabres, they both started out slow. Thompson really wasn’t a good player until Don Granato took over and Cozens took about two or three years.
When Tage first started, he looked slow and wasn’t performing well. Dylan showed some flashes of being good but was still a rookie. This season, both of them earned contract extensions for their play. Earlier on in February, Cozens landed himself a seven-year deal while Tage also got a seven-year contract extension.
Both of them are having amazing seasons as Tage has 40 goals and Dylan has 23 goals, three of those for Cozens resulted from a hat trick over the Sabres most recent victory over the Washington Capitals Sunday afternoon.
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The franchise is in good hands as both of these players will be cornerstone players going forward. It’s another example that it takes time for players to develop in the NHL. They went from players fans were concerned about to being superstars and they are both on Buffalo, completing a lethal top six.
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)
Source: Tage Thompson, Dylan Cozens growing into roles as Sabres’ top centers by Bill Hoppe, BuffaloHockeyBeat.com
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