Day 7 Notebook | Cozens aims to prove he's ready for NHL

Dylan Cozens and Jack Quinn wrapped up their silver-medal finish with Canada at the IIHF World Junior Championship on Tuesday night. By Wednesday morning, they were quarantining in Buffalo and awaiting their entry into Sabres camp.
The two first-round picks skated with the team for the first time Friday, both participating in the second practice group led by Rochester Americans coach Seth Appert. Sabres coach Ralph Krueger said he hopes for both players to participate in the team's intrasquad scrimmage on Saturday.
"Most importantly for them is to be patient and to integrate themselves at the level they're coming in at," Krueger said.

"Dylan, quite clearly, has an advantage having had camp with us last year, having been in contact with our player development personnel for more than a year now, a year and a half. Dylan is way ahead when it comes to information. Jack (was) just recently drafted and he hasn't been in our hands as yet, so we will be spending more time with him."
Cozens got his first taste of pro hockey at last year's camp, which saw him appear in three preseason games. He returned to play junior hockey with Lethbridge of the Western Hockey League, tallying 85 points (38+47) in 51 games while serving as the team's co-captain.
The 6-foot-3 centerman spent the long offseason adding physical strength, a factor he says aided him in his dominant run at World Juniors. Cozens scored 16 points (8+8) in seven games, the most by a Canadian since Brayden Schenn in 2011.

"For sure, I think I noticed it a lot out there at World Juniors, just my strength and being able to win puck battles, being able to take the puck to the net and just fight guys off of the puck," he said. "I think it's a big jump in where my game went from last year and I think it's definitely gonna be a huge part in helping me make the jump to the NHL."
Krueger suggested during the offseason that Cozens may begin his career on the wing as opposed to his natural position of center to ease his transition. Cozens played the wing at times during World Juniors and skated on the right wing alongside C.J. Smith and Brandon Biro at practice on Friday.
"I kind of eased into the WHL as a winger so I'm just as comfortable on the wing as I am at center," he said. "Wherever they see me as a best fit is where I'll play, and I'll play there happily."

Quinn, who was selected eighth overall by Buffalo in October, is only now skating in a Sabres uniform for the first time. He outlined his goals for Saturday's scrimmage.
"I want do the best I can, put my best foot forward," he said. "I want to try to make some plays out there, compete hard, show I can compete at this level. And at the same time, it's going to be my first time skating with NHL guys like that and playing in a game. So, it'll be a cool experience and try to soak it in and learn something."

Friday's practice

After maintaining the status quo through the first six days, the Sabres tested out some new-look forward lines in their first group:
4 Taylor Hall - 9 Jack Eichel - 72 Tage Thompson
68 Victor Olofsson - 12 Eric Staal - 23 Sam Reinhart
53 Jeff Skinner - 27 Curtis Lazar - 38 Riley Sheahan
13 Tobias Rieder - 20 Cody Eakin - 21 Kyle Okposo
25 Arttu Ruotsalainen - 74 Rasmus Asplund - 37 Casey Mittelstadt
Notably, Thompson - who stood out during the first scrimmage on Monday - was bumped up alongside Hall and Eichel. Olofsson took Skinner's place alongside Staal and Reinhart, while Skinner moved to a line alongside Lazar and Sheahan.
Krueger said the look was designed to spread scoring throughout the lineup as well as to reward for Thompson's strong start.
"Jeff had some success with Curtis Lazar last year," Krueger said. "For us, also, Tage Thompson has also had a very, very strong camp and I think you have to look at the combination of decisions that happened there. We believe it's going to be necessary for us early in the season to be able to play with four lines. We're going to need to spread the ice time out.
"We'd like every line to have a strength offensively and defensively. Matchups, especially on the road, will not be a factor for us and we like the way the lines looked today. … Everybody understands that we will be changing lines as we go through the process of finding out what everybody's about, but we liked the look of that group and look forward to seeing more of it."
The Sabres had a positive share of shot attempts (51.06) in 82:46 with Skinner and Lazar on the ice together at 5-on-5 last season, according to Natural Stat Trick.