Senators centre Dylan Cozens returns to Buffalo to face Sabres

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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.

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.

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.

“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.

“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.”

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.

“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.”

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.

“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.”

Green went through this during his playing career.

“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.”

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The good news is Cozens will return to Buffalo feeling good about himself and where he’s at with the Senators. The club is playing meaningful games down the stretch, is sitting in the first wildcard spot in the East and is poised to make the playoffs for the first time since 2017.

“It’s going to be a little weird for sure but I’m going to try not to overthink it,” Cozens said. “At the end of the day, just another game and another two points that we need.”

The ‘Workhorse from Whitehorse’ will suit up for his ninth game with the Senators. He has three goals and seven points in eight games with Ottawa playing mostly with wingers Drake Batherson and Perron.

It helped that he had familiarity with Batherson from the 2022 IIHF world hockey championship with Team Canada. Cozens moved in with Batherson when he got here and that has helped with the transition.

“It’s a great group here. Everyone has welcomed me with open arms and it’s been easy to fit in,” Cozens said. ”

Since this is the club’s Father’s Trip, Cozens will be accompanied by his dad, Mike, on the two-game trip that also makes a stop in Detroit on Thursday. It will be nice to have Mike in the stands.

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“It’s pretty cool that he’s coming along on this one,” Cozens said. “He will get to see one last game in Buffalo. He had to clear his work schedule because it was pretty short notice but I don’t think he’d miss this for the world.”

Ottawa fans will be disappointed to hear they likely won’t get a chance to see Norris in this one.

The 25-year-old has suited up for only three games since he was dealt to the Sabres and hasn’t played since he scored his first goal in a Buffalo uniform on March 12 in Detroit.

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