The Buffalo Sabres made Dylan Cozens the seventh-overall selection in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, but he's not your run-of-the-mill high-end prospect.
Cozens grew up 2,396 kilometres northwest of Vancouver in Whitehorse, the capital of Canada's lowest-populated province or territory. Yukon has roughly 36,000 residents in total and the 18-year-old will be the first player from the territories to represent the country at the World Juniors.
According to Hockey Reference, the NHL has only ever seen two players from Yukon play at the sport's highest level — Byron Baltimore (two games in 1980) and Peter Sturgeon (six games in 1980-81). Both players were born in Whitehorse, too, but nearly 40 years later, Cozens' status as a high-profile player from the territory remains a rarity.
“I asked him the other day where he’s from and he told me, ‘The Yukon,’ and I didn't know and I was in shock,” Flint Firebirds and Team Canada centre Ty Dellandrea told TSN's Mark Masters.
That kind of reaction doesn't seem to surprise Cozens anymore. He told TSN on Tuesday that he is frequently asked if he sees polar bears roaming around Whitehorse — FYI, he hasn't.
“The big one is igloos," Cozens said. "If people live in igloos, and I have not seen an igloo up there.
“It's obviously a small city and, you know, it’s pretty cold. There wasn’t the most hockey competition up there and that’s why I had to move away when I was 14, but I wouldn't choose any other path. I’m so proud to be from there, so proud to represent there, and I just love being from there.”
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Cozens, who expects to play centre or right wing on one of Team Canada's top two lines when the World Junior tournament starts on Dec. 26, told TSN that he consistently played against older kids growing up and realized he needed to move on from Whitehorse when he broke his leg playing against grown men in a recreational league in his early teenage years.
"So, that was a turning point there that said, ‘I need to get out of here and play against some kids my own age and start getting my name out there,'" Cozens said.
So the 6-3, 185-pound forward went and did just that. At age 14, Cozens moved to British Columbia to play at the Delta Hockey Academy, and in 2016 he was selected 19th overall by the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the WHL draft. Two outstanding seasons later, where he scored 137 points in his first 125 games, he became the first player from Yukon selected in the first round of the NHL draft.
He's continued that high-scoring success with Lethbridge this season (20 goals, 26 assists in 30 games) and expects to be a key cog in Canada's attack come Boxing Day.
Dylan Cozens strikes twice as part of his four-point night to lead Lethbridge to a Sunday win in Edmonton: pic.twitter.com/JzBk1iaEAx
— Kris Baker (@SabresProspects) September 30, 2019
“He's playing so fast,” Canada assistant coach André Tourigny said. “He might've been our best player in the last two practices. He’s really fast and what I like is he’s as fast with the puck as without the puck. He wants to make the difference every time he touches the ice.”
Cozens gained experience playing at the international level from his stint as an alternate captain with Canada at the under-18 world championships last April; he netted nine points in seven games en route to Canada's fourth-place finish. Just eight months later, he'll get another chance for a medal — and to represent Yukon — on the much larger U-20 stage in the Czech Republic.
“It means so much,” Cozens said about support he gets from his hometown. “I know that there's a big fan base up there that loves watching the World Juniors, so now that they got someone from the Yukon playing in it, it’s going to be pretty special for them. I'm so proud to represent the Yukon and the North.”