Canadiens Analysis
Canadiens Trade Talk: Habs Interested In Forward Dylan Cozens
According to Kevin Weekes, the Montreal Canadiens are among the teams that reportedly inquired about the availability of Buffalo Sabres forward Dylan Cozens.
In addition to the Habs, Weekes reports the Calgary Flames, the Detroit Red Wings, and the Toronto Maple Leafs have also shown interest.
In speaking to sources , I’m told there’s been plenty of expressions of interest from clubs in @BuffaloSabres F Cozens including ; @CanadiensMTL @NHLFlames @MapleLeafs @DetroitRedWings . #SabreHood #HockeyX pic.twitter.com/EJGtKI36f6
— Kevin Weekes (@KevinWeekes) February 5, 2025
While I’m certain Weekes is not the type of person who manufactures interest when there isn’t any, we also have to keep in mind Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes is the type of executive that will make as many calls as possible to gauge the value of certain players on the NHL’s Trade Market, connoting that this could have simply been part of Hughes’ due diligence.
That being said, there’s a lot to consider when dealing with a player such a Cozens.
Montreal Canadiens Angle
He’s a 23-year-old centre who is not enjoying the best season from a raw production standpoint, with 10 goals and 16 assists in 53 games. However, he also plays for the Sabres, and as we all know, that can be a very difficult setting for a young player. There’s no guarantee Cozens would immediately return to his scoring pace from 2022-23 if he were to be dealt, but we do have to recognize that just because he plays for a bad team doesn’t mean he’s a bad player.
As it stands, Cozens’ 1.82 points per 60 minutes of 5v5 ice time is the second-highest result of his career, and adding offensive firepower to a team such as the Canadiens is never a bad idea.
Unfortunately, his underlying numbers are far from encouraging, even when we adjust the filter to see his stats relative to his teammates.
And then there’s the matter of his very rich contract that kicked in this summer. Yes, there’s a significant increase in salary cap space on the books, and the Montreal Canadiens should have plenty of financial manoeuvrability moving forward, but Cozens is set to carry a $7.1 million cap hit until 2030-31.
If he can’t re-ignite the scoring touch that led to him finding the back of the net 31 times in 2022-23, there’s a significant risk his contract could become an albatross.
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Seeing as he’s still relatively young, and there are several other teams interested in a potential trade, odds are the Canadiens would have to pony up a two or three good assets to secure a trade involving Cozens.
It feels like a medium risk, medium reward type of trade, which won’t scare away Hughes, as he’s shown he’s willing to gamble on young players, but the recent reversal of fortunes we’ve seen from Kirby Dach may stop him from adding yet another ‘reclamation’ project to the organization.
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Depends on the Cost
Cozens is a Dubois level contract to move
Dubois after taking LAK for Iaffolo, Two former 1st round picks Kupari/Vlardi and a 2024 2nd round pick. Not even a Year after signing Signing a Cozen like deal they got Kuemper who had played horrible since signing his 5x 5.25m contract. 2 years after he still had enough value in his 3 years remaining to get PLD without being an outright capdump.(he was playing Jake Allen Hockey for 5.25m as a Starter who got beat out by Charlie Lindgren aka who Habs replace Allen with)
If they were willing to do Gallagher or Anderson with a 2025 conditional 1st
Then i’d be interested partially in Cozens but thats only mostly to move those contracts.
But even then thats a hard sell cause we’d have Slaf and Cozens on similar deals and needing both to succeed. Our big hope would be Laine-Cozens-Demidov would hit levels that will surpass Caufield-Suzuki-Slafkovsky. Its possible but it relies on Cozens progressing as a Faceoff Center which i believe over 2 years he could achieve unsheltered but with sheltered role he’d be fine out the gate.
Actually I’d gives them Dach if they’d take a 2nd and Anderson instead.
Cozens is barely an upgrade at this point over Dach but he is an upgrade.
They’re in similar places but Dach isnt cut out to be Center and until MSL starts playing him like a Winger he and the team will suffer. Where as Cozens has had 3-4 solid years worth of progression similar to Jake Evans or Nick Suzuki before we got Coach Nicholas and their stats went up 2-3% each and both stopped require being sheltered.
I like Dach over Newhook but Newhook is Versatile,Speedy and develops chemistry easy.
Dach has Chemistry with Gally, Caufield , Suzuki and thats is. He struggles by everyone else the last 3 years outside Monahan of course who he was making Real Progress beside.
lol of course you be willing to do that trade. Every habs fan would. Only a protected 1st and one of our worst contracts for a big, young, former 30g scorer? We’d be insane not to do it, but in no universe does Buffalo accept that trade. The cap is about to skyrocket, his cap hit is not that bad for his age and potential. Buffalo will get a lot more than a protected 1st and a cap dump….
You can’t compare him to Dach. He’s way healthier than Dach has been, and has a much better track record of productions. You also say Dach isn’t cut out to be a C but cozens is. That’s another reason not to compare them (in terms of trade value, I get that the comparison makes sense in the “he’s a better fit” type of argument, without saying yet whether I agree or not). Cozens will be expensive even if we were the only suitor. If there’s a bidding war, it will be even worse.
TLDR, Buffalo won’t take a protected (low-ish) first and a cap dump for a promising young forward with as 30g season under his belt.
I consider Dach and Cozens pretty much the same thing, so I don’t think we need another one. Would be a lateral move imo. There are only 6 spots available on the top 2 lines. With Suzuki, Caufield, Slafkovsky, Demidov and Hage, I’d say 5 of the 6 spots are spoken for long term. We also have Newhook and Laine. Spending assets to acquire a player that we pretty much already have and don’t really have a spot in the lineup for, doesn’t really make sense to me. I believe any rumours are as suggested, Hughes doing his due diligence to determine what the going rate is for a Cozens type player. It’ll give him a decent idea of Dach’s worth. Nothing more. Besides, I don’t really like the idea of the assets we spend to get Cozens coming back and biting us in the butt for potentially the next decade or more. We’re going to have to get through Buffalo to get in the playoffs for many years to come. It would really hurt if that was prevented by guys on the other side that we gave them.
Can’t believe Hughes would be silly enough to spend actual assets on a $7M AAV til 2030 Dach clone reclamation project. They got Laine for free (essentially) with 2 years at $8.7M last summer. That gamble may not pay off, but it’s only 2 years. Even if they got Cozens for free, that contract. Ouf!
Dach for Cozens straight up in a lateral move IF we believe he has a better chance at holding our 2C role and I’m game…
Anything else makes no sense to me, but I don’t mind Hughes inquiring on the cost…
If the Habs can get Cozens at a reasonable price, I think that would be an excellent acquisition. He’s an above average player that can eventually become a 1st line forward, if all goes well . He’s just turning 24 and has his best years still ahead of him. He’s a player that would thrive in another jersey besides Buffalo’s.
adding Cozens would probably have Dach going the other way… we also would probably need to add a small piece with Dach (perhaps they would want baby Tuch in the package) 😉
7 million!? Don’t be ridiculous!
No way does Buff take a Dach for Cousins straight-up trade! Why? Because Cousins is better than Dach. Full stop. Anyone who thinks this would be a lateral move is wrong.
I saw a post above that pretty much nails this…Dach + a 2nd rd pick is a good start. I’d throw in a mid level prospect if need be. Or, if they insist on a 1st instead of that 2nd, they can have Anderson instead…plus the mid level prospect.
Regardless, I really try to make this deal to get Cousins. I don’t think Dach will be THE 2nd line centre the Habs need. Far better chance Cousins can do it. He’s 24 yrs old and his cap hit is reasonable.