Whether he stays at centre with his Swedish linemates or moves to the wing, Dylan Cozens has emerged as a key player for the Senators, well beyond the scoresheet.
In his first full season as an Ottawa Senator, Dylan Cozens put together what was arguably his most complete professional campaign.
Although the centre’s 28 goals and 59 points failed to surpass his 2022-23 totals (31 goals, 68 points), last season represented the second-most productive one of his career.
Extending past his production, Cozens, like many of his counterparts, benefited from playing on one of the most stringent defensive teams in the NHL last season. On the surface, Cozens may not seem like an impactful defensive player because for the seventh consecutive season, he was another dash player.
Thankfully, hockey culture has advanced to the point wherein less attention is being paid to plus/minus. This inherently flawed stat assigns an individual player credit or blame for a team event often influenced by factors beyond the player's control. And to his credit, when you look under the hood, Cozens posted some interesting metrics that demonstrated his strong impact on both sides of the puck.
According to Evolving-Hockey’s ‘Total Defence’ metric that combines a player’s five-on-five and shorthanded defensive contributions, no Senators forward had a greater defensive impact than Cozens last season.
HockeyViz’s data corroborates the data by examining Cozens’ isolated impacts.
A big reason for this effectiveness can be explained by his line’s effectiveness. Last season the 25-year-old logged 319 minutes of five-on-five ice time playing alongside Brady Tkachuk and Ridly Greig per Evolving-Hockey. Of all the lines in the NHL that logged 300-plus minutes last season, no line had a better expected goals for percentage (xGF%) than this trio’s 66.56 xGF%.
The Senators’ structure and puck-moving efficiency from the blue line certainly played a role, but Cozens’ line caused havoc within the offensive zone because of their size, competitiveness and ability to cycle the puck.
Their consistency in working the puck down low and off the cycle created chances and sustained pressure in the offensive zone. It also helped fatigue the opposition, ensuring that when the opponents eventually gained possession, they rarely had the energy to lead a rush of their own - resulting in dump-ins to allow for a line change and a fresh set of legs.
Tkachuk’s departure to the Sunshine State effectively put an end to the line’s time together, but in an interesting twist, Ridly Greig has spent the entirety of camp getting reps at centre. In their place, Cozens has played between Fabian Zetterlund and the newly acquired William Eklund.
Cozens had a strong start to camp, and whether in scrimmages or in the first preseason game last night, when his line was responsible for the Senators’ two goals, his line has developed chemistry early on.
“We've been clicking pretty well out there,” Cozens told reporters earlier this week. “We're just using our speed, using our legs, and finding each other. Obviously, those two guys have some chemistry, so just been trying to mix in with that.”
Zetterlund and Eklund have a history of playing together from their time in San Jose. The two spent over 200 five-on-five minutes together during the 2023-24 season, when Zetterlund established career highs in goals (24) and points (44). Since being acquired in the waning seconds of the 2025 trade deadline, Zetterlund generated buzz for being a prospective goal scorer, but in his short time in Ottawa, he has failed to take advantage of the opportunities afforded to him.
He has spent time moving up and down the lineup, but found himself playing principally on the team’s fourth line last season. In 100 career games in Ottawa, Zetterlund has tallied just 19 goals and 38 points.
The hope is that playing with a familiar linemate can help unlock some of the potential Ottawa saw in Zetterlund.
“(Eklund)’s really good at finding the open guy,” Cozens said while explaining how Eklund complements the line. “For me and (Zetterlund), we both can rip the puck pretty good. So we just find those open spots for him so we can shoot the puck and he can find us.
“Even (Eklund) can rip the puck too. We're just trying to open up space for each other by using our speed.”
The dynamics of Cozens’ line have certainly shifted, and it’s a change that he certainly recognizes.
“Last year our line was pretty good at wearing teams down,” he admitted. “We used our bodies to hold on to pucks, cycle it low, protect it, and grind them down. That's how we found a lot of success.
“That’s how me and (Greig) want to play this year and continue that. Maybe playing with a smaller guy like (Eklund), maybe I'll do more of that grinding in the corners. But, he's pretty strong. He can do that too.”
Cozens led the team with 215 hits last season, and with Zetterlund, they were two of six forwards on the Senators who recorded at least 10 goals and 100 hits. Their blend of speed and physicality is intriguing, but there is no question that in Tkachuk’s absence, the pressure will be on Cozens to replicate last season’s effectiveness and prove that he can drive play and sustain offensive pressure without the power forward.
Cozens joked that he may have to learn Swedish to help improve his line’s chemistry and communication, but if his line gets off to a slow start, head coach Travis Green has the luxury of using his roster flexibility to shake things up.
The aforementioned Greig has been getting reps at centre, and this offseason, the organization reiterated several times that it likes the flexibility afforded by its depth at centre.
Interestingly, at the World Championships, Cozens lined up at the wing alongside Macklin Celebrini and Sidney Crosby.
When asked about his success at the Worlds and whether he would have a willingness to play the wing with the Senators, it would have been easy for Cozens to stress his preference to remain at the pivot position.
He did not do that.
“They know that I'd be open to it, and if that's where they think our team is going to be the best, then you know I'm good to do that,” Cozens stated. “They know I'm open to it, and we'll see what happens.”
The Senators’ strength at forward comes from the depth of young centres like Cozens, Tim Stützle, Shane Pinto, Ridly Greig and Stephen Halliday.
Natural goal scoring from the wing appears to be a weakness, so if the Senators struggle to get production from their wingers early on, sliding Cozens over would be the obvious move.
In the meantime, he’ll keep working on his Swedish.
By Graeme Nichols
The Hockey News
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