Senators centre Dylan Cozens ready for a return to Buffalo to face Sabres

Dylan Cozens responds to the cheers of fans. Photo by Chris Tanouye /GETTY IMAGESArticle content

This will be a homecoming for Dylan Cozens.

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Everything old will be new again for the Ottawa Senators centre when he takes on the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night at the KeyBank Center for the first time since being traded at the March 7 trade deadline.

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Brought to the Senators along with defenceman Dennis Gilbert in the deal that sent centre Josh Norris and defenceman Jacob Bernard-Docker to the Sabres, Cozens has looked right at home in his new home.

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But going back to Buffalo will help Cozens close the book on a big chapter of his career. He was drafted No. 7 overall by the Sabres in 2019 and suited up for 341 games with Buffalo over five seasons before being moved.

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He expected to be part of the solution with the Sabres and was surprised when general manager Kevyn Adams told Cozens he’d been dealt only hours before the National Hockey League deadline.

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“I’ve thought about (Buffalo) a bit. I just try to stay focused on the here and now being here,” Cozens said on Monday after the club’s skate in Ottawa. “I thought I was going to be there for a long time.

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“I thought I was going to be part of the solution and I dreamt every day about turning things around there, being a successful team and what it would be like. It didn’t work out, but it’s what it is, and I’m happy to be here and very happy to be a Senator.”

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Coach Travis Green and Cozens’ teammates know this won’t be just any other game for him. He has a history with the Sabres, he knows the players across the ice and he’s coming in an Ottawa team that is trying to make the playoffs for the first time in eight years.

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“It’s always a little weird,” well-travelled Senators forward David Perron said. “Especially for me, when I go back to St. Louis, even to this day there is just something about it.

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“There is a team that believed in you enough to draft you at the level they did, they invested a lot of time and effort into you becoming an NHL player. If you become an effective one like (Cozens) was there, he spent a good part of his adult life in Buffalo so it’s going to be special.”

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Walking into the KeyBank Center and heading to the visiting dressing room on the left instead of strolling down the hallway to the Sabres quarters on the right will be one of the most noticeable differences for Cozens.

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“The nest part is when the game gets started you just play,” Perron said. “Sometimes there is the lead-up to it, the anticipation and you just want to get playing.”

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Green went through this during his playing career.

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“I don’t know if you can say why exactly (that it’s strange),” Green said. “If you can put yourself in his shoes. If you get drafted by a team or work with a company for a long time then you go back there for the first time it’s different. It’s not the same.”