2025 Ottawa Senators Report Cards - Dylan Cozens

Staff Grade: B, Reader Grade: B+

In the days approaching the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline, Travis Green's Ottawa Senators, in spite of their much-needed overhaul of their goaltending and defense, were on pace to set the worst mark for even-strength goals for any club in the last five years.

Changes needed to be made, and GM Steve Staios acquired Buffalo Sabres 2019 8th-overall pick Dylan Cozens in exchange for Josh Norris. Despite some struggles on the defensive side of things, the swap is paying some early dividends for the Senators.

Cozens was brought in to give the club a second option behind Tim Stützle as a playmaking top-six centre, and he delivered with 5 goals and 11 assists in 21 games, alongside Drake Batherson and David Perron. Both produced more with Cozens as opposed to without him (courtesy of NaturalStatTrick):

These improved results are huge, especially considering it's on top of Stützle and Brady Tkachuk playing together on the first line.

Among Sens forwards playing 200 or more minutes this season, Cozens ranked 1st in on-ice goals/60 at 5-on-5 (goals scored with him on the ice), 2nd in points/60 at 5-on-5, and 5th in individual expected goals per/60 at 5-on-5. In these same categories, Norris ranked 13th, 11th, and 9th. For those of you worried about how sustainable Cozens' numbers are, don't be – they were still lower overall than his 2024-25 Buffalo numbers.

Speaking of which, Cozens' game for the most part was very Sabres-esque. High offence, with subpar defensive play (he ranked dead-last in 5v5 Corsi For % among Sens forwards). So we could see Travis Green's system start to change his game next season – will he be able to adjust without sacrificing production?

Playoffs were a different story. In spite of a brilliant shorthanded goal in Game 5, through 6 games he had 1 goal, 1 assist, a -2 rating, and factored into game-winning goals from Max Domi in Game 2 and Max Pacioretty in Game 6. What we saw as a whole is promising, but hopefully isn't the finished product, which is ultimately why he ends up with a 'B' from us.

Cozens is going into the third year of a 7-year deal worth $7.1M annually. With the salary cap increasing significantly, the next year could significantly swing the value of that contract in either direction. Ideally, he maintains his level of production, adjusts fully to Travis Green's system, and throws a fucking hit on Domi or whoever in Ottawa's next playoff series.