As the Buffalo Sabres continue their season and sit with a 2-4-1 record thus far, the team’s struggles are hard to ignore. Notably more than just about any other player, the one struggling to do just about anything at all is forward Dylan Cozens, who feels like the hockey equivalent of watching grass growing right now.
Checking for a pulse on him feels like a nightly ordeal considering how little he is contributing to the team success compared to what is expected of him. What’s worse is that it feels like this is no longer just a rut he may come out of. It is has become a regular talking point for the young center.
What Is Wrong With Cozens?
Is it another case of being snake bitten? Is he just going through another slump? Is it a motivation issue? The questions just keep rattling around as Cozens sits with just one assist through seven games played, and his game as a whole just looks out of place and sloppy. Last season he had the excuse of bad coaching and systems Don Granato deployed while at the helm, but now all of those same habits are still there but worse, so it is clearly something going on with him. Confidence comes to mind when a player is struggling, and it can get even tougher when their team is not performing up to standard. Things get more tense, plays become less routine than they should, and a player like Cozens — who should be performing like a two-way scoring threat — just ends up losing all their luster.
Cozens has had some problems in the past with slumps or being snakebitten and going on long scoreless streaks, so unfortunately this is not something that is new, but the narrative is getting extremely old at this point for a player who was recently deemed to be one of the team’s leaders and is being paid a substantial amount of money to score points in the Sabres’ top six forward core. When the four players who have rotated in on the line in Cozens, Jack Quinn, Zach Benson, and rookie Jiri Kulich have only one combined goal, the issue lies with the most veteran player, and that is Cozens. The buck stops with him and he needs to contribute something to show some signs of life.
How to Fix Cozens’ Issues
Slumps can be a tricky thing, especially when it looks like the player in question may just be getting unlucky. At the very least, Cozens is shooting the puck as he has 23 shots, which leads the entire Sabres roster. Since he has not yet found the back of the net, it does not count for very much. Cozens should be contributing in other ways than just on the scoresheet, like in the physical aspect of the game and providing pressure in both zones. Having been absent in nearly every major department up to this point, I would say starting there is one best way to get him going.
If he is not going to contribute by putting the puck in the back of the net, he needs to be throwing his weight around, hounding pucks in corners, causing turnovers, and being a pest to draw as many penalties as he can. Even when former sniper Jeff Skinner was in a slump, he was always finding a way to run his mouth, be a punk, and keep his feet moving to draw a bunch of penalties to contribute something to his team. Cozens needs something like that to get him back on track.
Beyond getting his physical play back, getting him on the scoresheet is paramount, and moving him away from some of the young players and other underperforming forwards may help him as well. Theoretically having him on a line with Quinn and Benson should have worked, but since it isn’t it is time to shake things up and give him a new set of line mates who could mesh well with him. If head coach Lindy Ruff is unwilling to break up the first line and play Alex Tuch or JJ Peterka on one of Cozens’ wings, my suggestion would be to do the following to up the intensity level on Cozens’ line and get him moving:
Move up Peyton Krebs to one of his wings and put Jordan Greenway on the other side to keep up the pressure and physicality. Greenway may not play with a lot of speed, but both him and Krebs play with a lot of intensity that would definitely get Cozens moving a lot more. This would give Cozens new refreshed linemates that change the dynamic of how his line will have to play, and it would the stellar play Krebs and Greenway have displayed so far this season. Making a change to break the slump sooner than later will only benefit the team, and the faster that Cozens gets up to scoring speed, the better.
Cozens Cannot Afford Another Down Season
After scoring over 30 goals in his career-high 2022-23 season, Cozens has a lot to prove to himself and to the rest of the fans. There is a lot resting on him to be a big offensive contributor, and if he has yet another season where he is down in the dumps with his scoring production, then talks of moving on from him and his big contract will start to stir. When other young stars like Peterka will need bigger contracts in due time, the Sabres will need to move money out at some point, and if Cozens is not worth the money they are paying him, he could be shipped out.
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Realistically I still see him as a 20-25 goal scoring, 55-60 point caliber player, and he still has the chance to hit those kinds of numbers this season if he gets himself moving and starts putting some numbers up on the board. Starting off this slow is not ideal for any player, but as the Sabres continue to look to break a nearly endless streak of missing the playoffs, it hurts more to see a high quality player like Cozens struggling this much. I want to believe it is only a matter of time before he scores, but to really grasp that belief, myself, and many other Sabres fans are clamoring to see something — anything — from Cozens as soon as humanly possible.
