Another trade deadline has passed, and in his first full season as the general manager of the Ottawa Senators, Steve Staios wasn’t messing around and made some significant improvements. While it was far from easy to trade Josh Norris emotionally, it made sense. Seeing Brady Tkachuk and others emotional about the trade hurt, and Staios admitted it, but taking the emotion out of it, this deadline was an absolute home run.
Making just two trades, one being the acquisition of Dylan Cozens and Dennis Gilbert, and the other bringing in Fabian Zetterlund, the Senators got a lot better, especially at even-strength.
Cozens Is An Upgrade on Norris
While they have both hit ruts at points in their development, the general consensus is that Cozens is the better asset than Norris. Cozens is younger, cheaper, more physical, a right-shot (yes, that matters), less injury-prone, and arguably has the higher ceiling. Norris has the better shot, and probably a better two-way game.
When the trade deadline arrives, general managers look at what specific part of the team they need to upgrade. For the Senators, it was even-strength scoring. The Senators sit in 31st in the league as of Mar. 9 in 5-on-5 scoring with just 117 goals. There is a sizeable gap between them and 30th with the Nashville Predators holding that spot with 141 goals. Special teams, which have been successful in Ottawa, are important, but not nearly as important as 5-on-5 play.
Josh Norris 5-on-5 Stats: 54GP – 9G – 3A – 12P
Dylan Cozens 5-on-5 Stats: 62GP – 9G – 17A – 26P
There is a significant amount of improvement here. Norris hasn’t been able to generate assists at 5-on-5, and funny enough, with a primary assist on Ridly Greig’s goal in the second period of Cozens’ first game, he has tied Norris in primary 5-on-5 assists as a Senator this season with one. Just one. Not only that, but as Locked On Senators points out on X, Cozens has just two less primary assists at 5-on-5 than Norris has in his entire 236-game career.
Related: What Each Team Did at the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline
While Norris has also been racking up the hits this season, he isn’t as physical as Cozens is. Cozens has the slight edge in the hits column, but that stat doesn’t show the full story with physicality. Cozens is more willing to get into tough spots, lay bigger hits, and does a lot more…
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