Ottawa Senators center Dylan Cozens acknowledges it will be a strange feeling Tuesday when he returns to KeyBank Center to take on his former team, the Buffalo Sabres, for the first time.
"I'm excited," Cozens told reporters Monday. "It's going to be a little weird for sure. But I'm going to try not to overthink it. At the end of the day, it's just another game and a big two points that we need."
The Sabres dealt Cozens, along with a 2026 second-round pick and defenseman Dennis Gilbert, to the Senators in exchange for fellow center Josh Norris and blue-liner Jacob Bernard-Docker just before the trade deadline.
Cozens has thrived in his new surroundings, tallying three goals, four assists, and 31 hits in eight games with Ottawa. He had managed only 31 points in 61 games with Buffalo before the deal.
Norris, meanwhile, recorded a goal and an assist in three games with the Sabres before suffering an undisclosed injury.
Cozens was drafted seventh overall by the Sabres in 2019 and signed a seven-year, $49.7-million extension with the club in 2023.
"I thought I was going to be there for a long time," Cozens said. "I thought I was going to be a part of the solution. I dreamt every day about turning things around there and being a successful team and what it would be like. Obviously, it didn't work out, and it is what it is. But I'm happy to be here and I'm very happy to be a Senator."
Sitting last in the Eastern Conference, the Sabres are on their way to extending their NHL-record postseason drought to 14 seasons. The Senators enter Monday occupying the conference's top wild-card spot as they aim to snap a seven-year playoff skid.
