Sens Acquire Dylan Cozens and Fabian Zutterlund at the Trade Deadline
By Sens Buzz
The day finally arrived when the Ottawa Senators said goodbye to another one of its original rebuild pieces. A locker room favourite, a fan base favourite, and quite honestly a city favourite, Friday’s NHL Trade Deadline saw Steve Staios put his next permanent mark on the team by trading centre Josh Norris along with Jacob Bernard-Docker to the Buffalo Sabres for Dylan Cozens, Dennis Gilbert, and a second round draft pick.
It was an emotionally confusing day, but I believe Captain Brady Tkachuk said it best when he wanted to apologize after Sens practice to Dylan Cozens for his reaction to the trade, which honestly, was a fanbase-wide reaction to the trade. Nevertheless, there is a real level of excitement in welcoming Dylan Cozens to Ottawa, which I'll try to focus on without letting my rose-tinted glasses for Josh Norris get in the way.
Dylan Cozens turned 24-years-old back in February this year. Standing at 6’3 and 207 lbs, he’s an imposing figure who will line up well with the likes of Brady Tkachuk, Drake Batherson, and Shane Pinto. This was the first trade for the man nicknamed the “Workhorse from Whitehorse”, coming over from the Buffalo Sabres after 5 seasons. In 61 games played this season, he’s compiled 11 goals and 20 assists. Way off the pace from his 31 goals and 38 assist campaign in the 2022-23 season - which is part of the reason he’s now a Senator today.
Dylan Cozens is coming to Ottawa with a lot of baggage and slander from some dark days in Buffalo, where he has been criticized rather unfairly. Whether it be his effort, attitude, or level of intensity.
Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP
The Buffalo Sabres have not been to the playoffs since the 2010-11 season, understandable that their fans are frustrated, but the placement of their frustration into the young centre was strange to say the least. No, he’s not been anywhere near his form from two seasons ago, but a young player biting the bullet after committing seven years to the doom and gloomy city seemed harsh.
I will not be repeating the slander of the past on Cozens, I believe in fresh starts and am happily awaiting to see him make his Senators debut on Saturday
Note after the game: Yeah I’m happy I waited, what a stud.
New city, a new start, I wish Norris the best moving forward, but I can’t wait to see what Cozens brings to Ottawa, expect more forechecking, and someone who battles for every inch of ice. I don’t think the maturity of his game has been realized yet or manifested into solid defensive play, so don’t expect him to kill penalties like Norris, but I cannot wait to see what this Powerplay can look like when he gets the chance, as another righty option to Drake Batherson and Claude Giroux who've been forced to play because of the lack of other viable options.
The pick is self-explanatory, magic beans, Buffalo is bad, maybe we can convince somebody it’s a first.
The Senators also acquired left defenseman Dennis Gilbert as a Jacob-Bernard Docker replacement. There were simply too many righties in Ottawa, and Bernard-Docker’s play and untimely injury essentially meant he lost his spot to Nikolas Matinpalo, who impressed. Expect Gilbert to play the seventh defenceman role in Ottawa behind Tyler Kleven, as he offers the Senators the option to bring in a lefty into the fold should a defenceman on the left go down. He’s physical, not the greatest skater, but has lots of heart…basically what you see is what you get with him.
Now if you were sitting around impatiently for the next three hours of the day, frustrated that this was going to be the Senators’ only move, you’re not alone. I’ve championed this idea for months, that for Norris’s $8M you can get two 30 point guys for the price of one, and Staios had one more trick up his sleeve. Sleepy Steve Staios pulled a me with 15 minutes left to a deadline for a paper and beat the buzzer by getting a trade to the NHL Central Registry queue with 27 seconds left until the deadline. The deal sent Zack Ostapchuk, Noah Gregor, and Ottawa’s 2025 second round pick to the San Jose Sharks for Fabian Zetterlund, Tristen Robins, and a fourth round draft pick.
Quickly, I want to thank Noah Gregor and Zack Ostapchuk for their time spent as Ottawa Senators. In all fairness, I’d be more devastated about the loss of Zack Ostapchuk if the return wasn’t so great. The 6”4 - 21-year-old centreman made his NHL debut on March 12, 2024, playing in 50 games with the Senators and notching four points before being dealt this deadline. He’s a big body, lots of promise, and hard worker…however, needs a lot of marinating before he can become an effective NHLer.
Moving on swiftly, Tristen Robins is a 23-year-old second round pick from the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, peaked in the WHL when he had 78 Points in 62 games for the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL in junior. His career since has kind of slowed down, putting up 38 Points in 64 games with the AHL’s Barracuda and making his NHL debut during the 2022-23 season. He had put up only 18 Points in 42 games and 41 games during his last two seasons. He’s hit a bit of a wall, and a noticeable trend is starting to kick in here with Staios, as he likes these throw-in guy types. Last year, acquiring Jamieson Rees, and this year Tristen Robbins, I like the experimenting.
The fourth round pick is wild that we got that, but time magic beans for now until we come back to this in 5-10 years.
The real prize of the deadline is acquiring Fabian Zetterlund for the forward core. Do not underestimate this addition, Zetterlund’s 36 points in 64 games with San Jose eclipses both Cozens and Norris’s production this season. The rumour is that Zetterlund’s camp received an offer, but wanted to delay the negotiations until next year. Recently, Mike Grier was in contact with Claude Lemieux (agent), Zetterlund’s camp gave them a number that inevitably didn’t match what San Jose was looking to do. via Sheng Peng X
While contract talks are going to be our nightmare, there is reason to believe this 25-year-old is a boom candidate in the right role here in Ottawa. NHL Edge has him in the top 20th percentile in skating speed, skating distance, shot speed, shots on goal and goals scored while being a below-50th percentile player for offensive zone time spent. Is he lucky or super effective, or maybe a combo of both, either way, his skill set will be massively important to the Senators as we ramp up towards the playoffs.
Cozens played and impressed Senators fans on Saturday, picking up his first point as a Senator while setting a career high in hits. While Zetterlund’s debut is still unclear when it’ll come, this has certainly been a trade deadline to remember Ottawa.
