Dylan Cozens, the 22-year-old “workhorse from Whitehorse,” has inked a cope with the Buffalo Sabres, signing a seven-year contract extension value nearly $50 million.
The deal, first reported at NHL.com, comes as Cozens is having a break-out hockey season with the Sabres, incomes 43 factors in 49 video games.
Craig Button is an analyst with TSN who’s been following Cozens since his junior hockey days.
He referred to as it a “nice deal” and mentioned it confirmed the Sabres are prepared to decide to younger hockey gamers.
“I’ve little question in my thoughts this group is shifting clearly within the path of being a Stanley Cup contender,” Button mentioned, including: “This Buffalo Sabres group just isn’t going to be a contender for one 12 months or two years. They’re going to be a contender for lots of years.”
Button, a former basic supervisor himself and Stanley Cup winner, mentioned he is seeing a group that is placing the correct gamers in place, and never asking an excessive amount of of anybody participant.
Cozens is the third Sabres participant to signal multi-million-dollar, multi-year contracts within the final six months. The others are Tage Thompson, 25, and Mattias Samuelsson, 22.
Button calls {that a} main aspect of success for younger gamers like Cozens.
Cozens is stopped by Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck throughout the third interval of an NHL hockey recreation, Thursday, Jan. 12, in Buffalo, N.Y. (Jeffrey T. Barnes/AP).
Button is credited with giving Cozens his nickname, “the workhorse from Whitehorse.” He mentioned he is joyful the moniker has caught.
“It’s good when a participant has that kind of labor ethic,” Button mentioned. “Sometimes you employ that time period workhorse, it connotes someone that simply works. Dylan works and he has the ability. Let’s be very clear there. They’ve labored in unison and made him an actual impactful participant.”
Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai gave a shout-out to Cozens in an interview with CBC Yukon Tuesday.
“That was fairly unimaginable, seeing what he put collectively,” Pillai mentioned. “And I believe we most likely have some extra hockey gamers and athletes over the subsequent variety of years that appear like they’re simply going to be, once more, doing nice issues on the nationwide stage and the worldwide stage.”
Pillai additionally joked earlier within the interview, evaluating Cozens’ deal to the well being care funding Prime Minister Justin Trudeau supplied to provinces and territories.
“You know, it is a powerful day. I believe the benchmark bought set by Dylan Cozens earlier right this moment on his deal, so it was simply, you recognize, making an attempt to ensure that we may negotiate just a little bit tougher and ensure we had been taking care of Yukoners and the Yukon health-care system.”
