Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – Buffalo Sabres forward Dylan Cozens had gone 17 games without goal before scoring on Tuesday against the Carolina Hurricanes. He also had just two goals in 26 games.
To be honest, the fact that he hadn’t scored in a while never much occurred to me, because he was contributing in other ways. Sabres head coach Don Granato says players must understand there are many ways to make yourself useful.
“The players need to know how they’re measured, and that’s a big part of coaching, informing these guys that this is how we evaluate your play," Granato said following Wednesday's practice. "When a player enters the league, especially a player like Dylan, they tend to measure it on goals and assists, and those are really not good measurements at all. They need to contribute to winning. That’s what it’s all about. So the measuring things are way different.
“It can be puck battles, it can be decisions, it can be situational reads. Not often is it measured by goals.”
Cozens is the type of player that wants to reach his NHL potential yesterday. He’s very impatient with himself and Granato said, “It’s all the little details starting with just winning your battles, protecting pucks, making the right decision, so those are the things that players need to progress towards and Dylan is very intent on progressing in those areas but yes, it has probably affected his scoring, but those are areas that are foundational elements that are just going to allow him to score more and I love what he’s doing, he’s progressing every day and he always has that bite and he does so much more for us than score, he’s a leader by virtue of that competitive effort that he has.”
Cozens knew he had to get better at that. He credits Granato with getting him there, “We’ve had a lot of talks about that and I’m a competitive guy and I know how good I could be and I want to be that good now but, Donnie’s told me I’m young and I’ve just got to be patient and not get frustrated and not push for it to be now and just let it come naturally.”
Cozens tried to just take the goal slump in stride, “At all points in my career I go through phases where I don’t score and I try not to worry too much about it, I mean I’m 21-years-old playing in the NHL and I know it’s not going to be easy, so I just try to stick with it and I think even though I wasn’t scoring, I still was producing a lot, a lot of assists and stuff (eight assists in those 16 games) and still playing really well and doing all the things right, it was just nothing was going in for me, so I didn’t really get too frustrated and we were winning games, so it was a lot of fun.”
Rasmus Asplund admitted that his goal drought really played on his mind for a long time. Granato knows how that can bring a player down, “It can definitely creep into guys' minds for sure, but you just have to trust the process and trust that you’re doing the right things.
“He’s (Cozens) has been working extremely hard and I think he’s been playing very well. He’s been solid defensively and creating a lot, it just hasn’t gone in, but I think his attitude has been terrific and you never would’ve known that he had gone a while without scoring a goal.”
Cozens until about the midway point of this season, was pretty easy to knock off pucks. He's 21-years-old and is still growing and getting stronger. Early in the season, Granato showed him clips on how he can use his lower body to be strong on pucks and in the battle. Cozens has improved greatly with that, “He has, the goal was evident last night, he had to fight and battle and use his body, just to get a touch on the puck, so he’s definitely gotten better and better at that and he’s been able to focus on the areas that he can improve on which will make him a better hockey player.”
This is a team that works hard to get better. Most of them stay after practice working on things. Cozens said, “One simple thing that I’ve gotten a lot better at as the season's gone on is faceoffs. There’s been a few times where I’ve been frustrated on my faceoffs, but as of late, I’ve stepped up there and then just little things like protecting the puck, using my body and stick battles that Donnie’s helped me with.”
Cozens has seemed to mesh well with his linemates of Peyton Krebs and Vinnie Hinostroza. That line has helped the Sabres form four lines that all contribute to the offense.
