Prospect Info: Dylan Cozens, C/RW, 2019 7th overall, Lethbridge (WHL) --- Signed to ELC

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tsujimoto74

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Prospect Profile: Dylan Cozens



What they're saying:
  • "He plays a mature two-way game, is extremely competitive, and possesses subtly high-end hockey sense that allows him to impact the game. His skating is his best weapon. He can dart up and down the ice at lightning speed, and plays with that pace with the puck on his stick." EPrinkside.com 2019
  • "Away from the play, he’s a competitive kid who is willing to finish his checks and use his frame effectively" Hockeyprospect.com 2019
  • "He is a gifted playmaker with great vision, able to make simple plays and complex ones with the same degree of success." McKeen's Hockey 2019
From Kris Baker:
If the Sabres don’t like Cozens, they simply don’t like 5v5 difference makers.

Big and strong with excellent speed and surprising agility, Cozens isn't going to take long to make a dent. I’m not at all suggesting the Sabres rush him into the mix, but he’s explosive enough (and man-child enough) to immediately compete against NHL competition. I just don’t see the point in doing so. Let him cook, lead a World Junior team, continue to dominate, build off his 34-goal, 84-point season, etc.

Cozens is a hard-driving kid who owns the center lane and thus commands attention whenever he’s on the ice. He’s a magnet for both pucks and defenders, and that bodes well for his teammates. As a shoot-first pivot, he launches heavy shots with a quick release that sees him score from range at his current level, but you can easily see his power game and hands quickly elevating pucks from in tight when he hits the NHL.

Part of his quick path to NHL readiness is the fact that he’s an extremely reliable 200-foot player as well. The work ethic is in place as he consistently uses his quick feet, long stick, and big frame to do his job. He’s a very low-risk player with a legitimate top-six ceiling out of the box. I’m trying to identify deficiencies and I’m not seeing much to be worried about.

Adding a player like Cozens would add a versatile, unique element to the Sabres center ranks. Keep in mind, I would personally simplify his life and bring him along as a winger when he first enters the league, but regardless the jam he’d bring to the table would be a more than welcome addition.
Buffalo Sabres 2019 Draft Preview ~ SabresProspects.com - The #1 Source On the Future Blue & Gold
 
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Yultron

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Lovvveeeee thiiissssssss!!!!!! Great Job Botterill ! 84 points as a 17 year old !!!
 

Ralonzo

Я хочу!
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Not high end skill, but high end motor.

So he’s a shriner car with a stuck left wheel and pedal to the floor?
 

paulmm3

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I like it. Glad we didn't stray too far from consensus rankings and glad we got a center!
 

Rasmus CacOlainen

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Just like with Casey, Baker called it. But Im not happy about it. Wanted Caulfield or Zegras here. Sniper or supreme vision instead of whatever the f*** Cozens is...
 

UnleashRasmus

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Apr 15, 2012
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All you people are being fickle, for your own pessimism sake. Thank you, Mr. Yzerman for being brave, and different. This was what this team needed, whether it was Zegras, or Cozens!.
 
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Chainshot

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Hockey Prospects has him at 14:

Dylan Cozens carried over from last season where he won the WHL-rookie-of-the-year award, by having another successful year, producing 84 points in 68 games with 34 goals. In the playoffs, he produced 8 points in 7 games. At international events he was mixed, having a solid-performance at the Hlinka, yet was underwhelming despite finishing with 9 points in 7 games at the U18’s.

Cozens is an explosive duel-threat center who we think is more suited to the wing. The reason we suggest that he’s more likely to translate as a winger is due to his hockey-sense. In order to become a dominant-center who can drive play like Cozens tools might suggest he could theoretically in the NHL; he needs an excellent-rate of anticipation and a highdegree of spatial awareness when carrying the puck. In Dylan’s case, he falls short of either. His anticipation is aboveaverage though, giving him the ability to recognize how to beat defenders one-on-one with his quick set of hands, as well as the ability to recognize the time and space he has when setting up his shot in the slot-area in most instances. Where his anticipation falls short, is when he’s attempting to transition the puck. He’s an explosive-skater with one of the best start-up gears in this class, which allows him to generate a ton of momentum as he barrels through the neutral-zone; however, he inadvertently skates himself into traffic, as he’s unable to recognize soft-ice nearly at the rate needed to carry a line. He has trouble identifying movement dynamically when he’s not looking for his passing option. He’s a quality playmaker who has good-vision; this is where his anticipation comes through, yet if he’s not attempting to identify his passing target—it falls short at too high a rate for us to feel comfortable. It’s a situation where his speed is too much for his processing ability to handle. His lack of anticipation and spatial-awareness diminishes his sense for backwards pressure, which has made him vulnerable to turning the puck over as well in some of our viewings. His athleticism masks some of these deficiencies at the junior level. He’s a well-built kid whose coordinated and features very impressive edgework; when he skates himself into an area on the ice where he needs to re-calculate his options, these qualities give him a recovery-option. Though, at the NHL-level, he won’t be able to have the same-rate of recovery that he currently has in the WHL. Furthermore, anticipation and spatial-awareness aren’t attributes that are easy to enhance, which makes us believe that long-term, not enough development can take place in order for him to become a line-driving center.

Although there’s concerns over his mental attributes, there are other qualities that make us a believer in him as a productive winger. We touched on his skating but haven’t discussed his ability to execute with his shot or passing while going at top-speeds, which he can. He just executes at a much-higher rate when he has less-options presented to him. This fits well with why we believe that he can accomplish a lot more if given a straight-line to work with on the wing. His most successful plays for us this year have been when he only needs to identify a portion of the ice and has a linemate looking to feed off his playmaking ability. Furthermore, when put on the wing, he can use his excellent top-speed and frame to cut aggressively towards the front-of-the-net. Away from the play, he’s a competitive kid who is willing to finish his checks and use his frame effectively, but there’s still some pace concerns depending on the game. Part of this goes back to his anticipation; he looks to be defensively responsible and forecheck aggressively, but there’s a slight-lag when determining what he wants to do depending on the play-type. Where there’s far less lag in his responsiveness, is when he’s identified a shooting-lane. He can really fire the puck, showing an advanced understanding of how to rotate through a shot, resulting in a good-amount of velocity both when stationary and when flying down the ice. His slapshot is a cannon as well; he had the most success with it on the powerplay which makes sense, since with less players to navigate around, he can find his soft-ice option quicker and get into a position to generate scoring chances. We feel that the less time he spends attempting to drive-play, and the more time he spends trying to put himself in a position to receive a pass and get off his shot will help him translate successfully. He’s not just a primary shooter though, displaying rare-duelthreat-elements. His passing isn’t as creative as some of the other high-end players in this class, but he can thread sharp passes at low-percentage angles. He can also play the half-wall on the powerplay, but at the NHL-level, we think he will be more suited to being a trigger-man with the man-advantage.
 

Chainshot

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More from HP:

The problem with projecting him as a center is how many variables need to be accounted for. He would need to further enhance his anticipation, further increase his spatial-awareness, increase his overall-pace, and make decisions quicker overall. That’s a lot of variables to take into account. What he does have going for him is his frame; he has arguably one of the best projectable-frames in this class, which will help when the game is going a bit too quick for him since he can over-power and run through smaller players at times. As a result, we still see Cozens as a 2nd-line, two-way winger who can get some powerplay-time, just not a line-driving, top-line center.
 
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