The 2025 NHL trade deadline has come and gone. While the number of deals is fairly similar to recent seasons, the intricacies and general quality of the trades involved were truly fascinating: from the second Rantanen trade & subsequent Wyatt Johnston extension, to Boston’s mass exodus, and even Shea Weber somehow getting dealt in the big 2025.
But the one that piques my interest most is one that saw two divisional rivals swap core pieces with Josh Norris and Dylan Cozens changing places in a modern “hockey trade”. So let’s dive right into what makes this trade so interesting, what each team is gaining in their new high-profile forward, and their psychology behind making this deal, with plenty of dashboards of course.
Josh Norris
The immediate reaction from a large portion of Senators fans was sadness for losing Josh Norris. He had turned into a fan favourite for the vibes he brought to the team whether through cameos in other players’ interviews, mic’d up behind-the-scenes moments, french lessons with Thomas Chabot, pumpkin carvings, or social media takeovers.
Norris has always had great physical tools. He’s got a good skating stride supported by proficient athleticism. This can be seen through his shooting arsenal which contains a booming one-timer. His ability to slide into open space off-puck to enable this is a big strength of his that led to a 35-goal campaign in 2021-22 (in only 66 games). He has also always been responsible with the puck and gives consistent effort when defending at 5v5 or on the penalty kill. So what’s the issue?
Sticking with his game, despite having a reputation as a committed two-way player, it still has yet to materialize into proportional suppression results (but more encouraging this season). And although his goal-scoring upside is evident, his ability to create for himself with the puck both on the rush and off the cycle leaves a little to be desired. His impact on entries has also been inconsistent if not underwhelming given his skating ability.
But we all know the big problem with Norris’s future projection. Josh has accumulated three surgeries to his left shoulder over the last six or so years. It has always clouded his potential availability and thrown a wrench in his comeback efforts, forcing him to miss a significant number of games since. But that hasn’t stopped him from playing physically, where he has taken huge steps this season. On the forecheck, in front of the net, when throwing hits, or while fending off pressure, Norris has been very effective on the checking side recently which could be notable signs of comfort in his body and general movement post-injury.
The skills are there for Norris to return to that production high. With hopeful signs of recovery, if he can find a way to blend that speed, agility, and shooting prowess that he all has in spades, watch out.
Dylan Cozens
The Workhorse from Whitehorse™️ has already seen many highs and lows early in his career. The newly-turned-24 Canadian centreman has skills in spades, with dynamic transition play at the forefront of his game. He has shown he can be a true dual-threat producer by clipping a near 30G-70PTS pace in 2022-23.
Since then, it’s been regression at the NHL level for Cozens. His production, tracked metrics, and overall impact have been dropping in the last couple seasons, culminating in a concerning 2024-25 showing which ultimately led to his departure. So where does his game currently stand after all this?
Cozens has a great shot and is capable of creating chances for himself to leverage it, resulting in scoring success from medium-to-longer ranges despite suboptimal in-tight conversion rates. His puck-carrying ability has remained throughout the woes, as he’s an excellent player on both the breakout and entry. The former especially will be welcome in Ottawa’s forward corps which, outside of the first line, could use help on the exit front.
The Yukon native’s transition impact was made evident immediately in his first game, as he kickstarted the powerplay breakout, entered the zone through traffic, and took control of the puck down low to establish the possession leading to Ottawa’s second goal (which was one post away from being Cozens’s first). Shoutout to Cheryl Pounder for the great analysis on this one.
On the other side of the puck, Dylan made his presence known in his debut notching a career-high 9 hits. His volume of physicality has been increasing year-over-year that’s certain, but I would like to see him apply it further on the forecheck to recover pucks (similarly to the goal above). He’s been good at pressuring opposing defensemen when they are trying to break it out of the zone, and could see to elevate this part of his toolkit to grow his checking ability.
Cozens has also been lauded for his two-way potential throughout his career. But once again similarly to Norris, the suppression results have yet to follow. The involvement is there however, which is marked by his voluminous puck retrieval rate in the defensive zone and aforementioned breakout ability. He’s generally just a high-activity player, and that will come with things that need to be addressed in various facets of the game including both with and against the puck.
There is big-game upside with Cozens who dominated for Canada at multiple international competitions already. He led the 2024 World Championships in goals, won gold at the 2020 World Juniors, then followed that up by leading the tournament in goals and being the runner-up in points the following year. He even scored a massive last-second debated goal in the 2018 Hlinka semis on his way to a gold medal. This is all fantastic news to Senators fans who enter their most critical month of hockey in the last eight years and hope to see this clutch version of Dylan Cozens follow.
Extra Pieces
The trade doesn’t end at this centre swap despite it being the major focus. Ottawa and Buffalo exchanged depth defensemen in Dennis Gilbert and Jacob Bernard-Docker. The two are opposite-handed (left & right respectively) defensively inclined pieces on very similar contracts.
In Gilbert, the Sens are getting a slightly older player who has shown to be a good shutdown presence on the third pair, especially during his time in Calgary from 2022 to 2024. He’s a very physical defenseman who can clear the net-front and be a passive but effective rush defender.
As for JBD, his stock has surely fallen since being taken in the first round back in 2018, but he was on track for his best NHL season until a high ankle sprain put him out of commission for a while. The on-ice chance suppression numbers were really impressive this year and could be indicative of future success on a defensive bottom pair moving forward.
And lastly, the Sabres attached their own 2026 second round pick which will most likely land in the late 30s to 40s range.
Buffalo Sabres
Buffalo acted fairly unpredictably leading into the deadline. Their stagnant progression gave most the impression that they should sell expiring pieces to continue changing personnel in hopes of it changing their fate moving forward into 2025-26 and beyond. But surprisingly, they chose to extend Jordan Greenway and Jason Zucker to two-year deals and approached that aforementioned shakeup by swapping core pieces with Ottawa.
This deal marks a continued emphasis on turning younger value into established NHL pieces for Buffalo as they continue to chase that bump to put them back into a playoff hunt in the future. This was evident with the Ryan McLeod deal last summer when shipping out Matt Savoie. These two trades also show the amount of importance the Sabres’ staff is placing into skating prowess, tools, and penalty-killing ability, a strong bet for building a centre core. And it allows them to build young reliable do-it-all lines throughout their top 9.
Despite the complex trajectories of both centres, Buffalo is certainly receiving the player who has been playing better as of late. By making this trade, the team seemed to signal that they were not confident in their ability to turn back the clock on Cozens and preferred taking a bet on Norris’s recovery. Sure there’s an increased risk of injury involved, but this injects them with a boost both on the ice and in the locker room.
Ottawa Senators
Despite losing out on a fan favourite and taking a big blow in the locker room, the Senators leave the deadline likely better now and moving forward. They take advantage of Norris’s stock being back on the up again, and buy on Cozens at his all-time low value-wise. Although Josh has had a better year, Dylan is younger & cheaper while being less further removed from his big breakout season which also carries a higher upside.
Most importantly for Ottawa, they shift risk from factors outside of their control, injury history & risk, to one on which they have more direct influence, a performance regression. Norris’s constantly uncertain injury status meant that his 8 million dollar cap hit was always locked up and needed to be played around. There was no guarantee he would be in the lineup, or on LTIR for long enough periods of time, allowing them to add while on the shelf.
Conversely, Cozens has only missed a handful of games to injury throughout his NHL career. The Senators hope that a good bit of his slump is a result of general disinterest in how the Sabres franchise has been tracking, and can coach/develop their way into a solution. While Dylan could add himself to the list of former Sabres who take big jumps upon leaving, it’s worth mentioning that the two most recent notable culprits, Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart, were both in far better spots career-progression-wise at the time of their respective trades out of Buffalo.
As for how this impacts the dynamics of the team, the immediate benefit of shedding cap here to acquire a young middle-6 scorer in Fabian Zetterlund mere hours later is obvious. Ottawa needed to re-energize their offence BADLY, ranking in last place across the entire league in total 5v5 goals since November 1st. That is simply not good enough for a team hoping to grace the playoffs. Injecting Cozens & Zetterlund bolsters that quite a bit a shores up their biggest weakness, the forward (and overall scoring) depth.
What’s really interesting is the amount of flexibility these moves provide to Travis Green’s coaching staff. While Dylan Cozens is a natural centre, the team already has proven players at the position and could opt to try his dynamic skillset on the wing. A partnership with a proficient two-way play driver like Shane Pinto is especially intriguing as Cozens would cover Pinto’s arguably only sub-average skill in zone exits. But if he does slot in at C, maybe a reunion with 2022 World Championship teammate Drake Batherson could be in the cards.
Either way, the Sens should not be afraid of getting creative. Sure, in order to get their reinforcements acclimated to the system, the team will likely try to establish specific combos that they stick to upon their arrival. But they should not be too restrictive in their line-making strategy moving forward, as there are tons of interesting permutations in play that could finally propel them to that elusive playoff spot.