Could the Buffalo Sabres' Dylan Cozens and Red Wings' Dylan Larkin be future teammates? (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)AP
When Steve Yzerman, along with Detroit Red Wings brass, walked onto the stage at the 2019 draft in Vancouver, many expected him to call Dylan Cozens’ name.
Nobody anticipated he’d select Moritz Seider sixth overall.
It’s worked out splendidly for the Red Wings.
Buffalo took Cozens, a good-sized (6-3, 207), offensively gifted center from Lethbridge, with the next pick.
That hasn’t worked out as well for the Sabres, though little has for a franchise on its way to missing the playoffs for the 14 consecutive season, four years longer than any team in history.
Now the Sabres, by many accounts, are looking to move Cozens by the March 7 trade deadline. The Red Wings surely have some level of interest.
How interested is Yzerman and what would he be willing to relinquish? That’s more difficult to answer than why Yzerman would want Cozens.
Cozens, who turned 24 this past Sunday, would fill the Red Wings’ troublesome second-line center spot with his skills and offensive upside. At least they hope he would.
That’s what they signed Andrew Copp for in 2022 (five years at an average annual value of $5.625 million). The following summer they signed J.T. Compher (five years, $5.1 million), hoping he’d provide the offense Copp hasn’t.
Copp currently is filling that No. 2 center spot on a line with Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane (though Vladimir Tarasenko played there the past two games), but neither he or Compher are long-term solutions there.
Cozens has three years remaining on his contract after this season at a $7.1 million AAV. The Red Wings have enough cap space to fit him in without shedding salary. And with the cap increasing considerably the next three seasons, the Red Wings wouldn’t be hamstrung.
The Sabres likely would want a good, young player or a first-round pick. It’s safe to assume the Red Wings aren’t relinquishing any of their top, young players like Marco Kasper or Simon Edvinsson.
Jonatan Berggren might be expendable because there hasn’t been an opening for him in the top-six to maximize his talent. But Buffalo surely would need more than that.
The Red Wings’ first-round pick looks like it will be middle of the pack or slightly lower. Yzerman traded a 2024 first-rounder (Boston’s, acquired in the Tyler Bertuzzi deal) that ended up being 25th to Ottawa in 2023 for DeBrincat, who was 25 at the time.
But DeBrincat was a proven scorer, Cozens is not. Cozens had a breakout season in 2022-23 with 31 goals and 68 points but has regressed since. He has just 11 goals and 27 points in 54 games this season.
Plus, the Red Wings also had their own first-round pick that year at No. 15 (Michael Brandsegg-Nygaard).
If Yzerman deals his first-rounder it likely will be top-10 protected, in the event the Red Wings slide after the deadline.
If Cozens is moved, he’d be the sixth player in the top 10 of the 2019 draft to already have changed teams, joining No. 2 Kaapo Kakko (Rangers to Seattle), No. 3 Kirby Dach (Chicago to Montreal), No. 4 Bowen Byram (Colorado to Buffalo), No. 8 Philip Broberg (Edmonton to St. Louis) and No. 10 Vasili Podkolzin (Vancouver to Edmonton).
Further proof of how difficult it is to identify a keeper, even in the top 10.
Perhaps the Red Wings have one in Kasper (No. 8 in 2022). He’s flourishing at left wing on the line with Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond. But even coach Todd McLellan revealed recently that club ultimately would like to move Kasper to center, his natural position.
Maybe Kasper could be the second-line center they’ve been seeking for so long.
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