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Buffalo Sabres Dylan Cozens Sidelined Due to Upper-Body Injury

Dylan Cozens

The Buffalo Sabres have announced that forward Dylan Cozens is sidelined with an upper-body injury. Cozens took a hit from defenceman Philippe Myers during the game on Monday against the Philadelphia Flyers and did not return.

Dylan Cozens Sidelined Due to Upper-Body Injury

The rookie was trying to make a play on the offensive zone in the first period when Myers pressed him on the boards. It was a clean hit but Cozens went straight to the bench and a few moments later, walked down to the trainers’ room. Buffalo announced during the first intermission he wouldn’t return to play the rest of the game.

After the game, Buffalo’s interim head coach Don Granato was asked about the rookie:

“I don’t have a report on it from a side of severity. Upper-body injury and there’s a range of timetables for that.”

Granato says he hopes it’s not a reason for Dylan Cozens to be sidelined for long. We will update once there’s a timetable.

The rookie has been off to a rough start, being one of the nine players who got COVID during the terrible outbreak in February. He was also sidelined for a few games in March with an upper-body injury caused by an ugly hit from the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Zach Aston-Reese.

Cozens has four goals and two assists in 25 games played this season. He entered his rookie season after having a brilliant performance during this year’s World Junior Championship, where he scored eight goals and eight assists in seven games played.

The 20-year-old was Buffalo’s first-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, going seventh overall. He was ranked one of the top ten prospects that year with two incredible seasons with the WHL Lethbridge Hurricanes. During last year’s campaign, Cozens had 38 goals and 47 assists for 85 points in 51 games with the Hurricanes.

What This Means For The Future

Buffalo just lost their 18th straight game, blowing a 3-0 lead entering the third. The game went to overtime, which means technically the losing streak is over. But an OT loss is still a loss.

Right now, it’s hard to point out what exactly is wrong with the Buffalo Sabres. Fans thought it was the coach, so Kevyn Adams fired Ralph Krueger. Some thought captain Jack Eichel was the problem. He hasn’t played since March 7 with an upper-body injury. It could be a leadership problem since it doesn’t seem there’s any leader in that team and they just traded Eric Staal to the Montreal Canadiens a few days ago. The reality is that the team looks bad. End of story.

They looked solid for a whole 40 minutes on Monday which was by far their best game since the COVID pause. However, the players don’t seem to know how to be consistent. Defenceman Rasmus Dahlin summed the third period as a “panic attack” during his post-game interview. Brandon Montour was pretty upset and once again pointed out that “it’s unacceptable” to stay in this situation.

“We owned them the first two periods,” the defenseman said. “Why can’t we finish them?” 

To say they should be upset is an understatement. They have just tied the record for the longest winless streak with the 2003-04 Pittsburgh Penguins. Buffalo has only 17 of the 68 possible points this season. Things are looking ugly and with the Cozens loss, it’s not set to look any better.

The team is also without defenceman Jake McCabe (lower-body), William Borgen (arm), and Jacob Bryson (upper-body). When asked about Eichel, coach Granato didn’t have an update and said he’s going through rehab.

Main Photo:

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Luiza Vidal, Editor

Luiza Vidal, Editor

Hockey fan since 2019, Luiza has worked with the hockey community since 2020 in multiple platforms, including Hockey of Tomorrow and the Brazilian portal Tic-Tac-Gol, which she helped build. The editor is working towards acquiring her degree in English literature and education.

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