Cozens, 19, scored his first NHL goal during a shootout loss to the Capitals on Friday. Krueger has said to expect rest days for young players as the team seeks to manage a truncated 56-game schedule. Tage Thompson was given a day off against Philadelphia last Tuesday.
"The important thing there is gonna be to monitor the energy and use our depth appropriately," Krueger said last Sunday. "… It's gonna be very important to get that right and it's not easy because we've never quite been in this territory before.
"But a scratch of a Dylan in the future or of any of our other evolving players shouldn't be a surprise to anybody because you're right, we need to make sure we don't give anybody too much too quickly that they fall right off the cliff. That's where sports science comes in, that's where communication between us comes in, the off-ice work we do with him."
Mittelstadt last appeared in an NHL game on Dec. 10, 2019. He spent the rest of the 2019-20 season in Rochester, where he was asked to further develop his two-way game.
"Casey had a really strong finish in Rochester last year," Krueger said during training camp. "First of all, he went back to the minors to learn and to grow and develop and after some bumps at the very beginning, he really embraced that opportunity.
"Now, we have to see how that transfers into the National Hockey League and into our roster. He will be an important part of our group this season. I love his competitiveness; I love his spirt. He gives us a lot of options."
