The 27-year-old forward was an unrestricted free agent after not receiving a qualifying offer from the Vegas Golden Knights.
"He's an in-your-face player," general manager David Poile said. "He's versatile, he can play wing, he can play center, can move up and down the lineup and he can play on our special teams. So he's a bit of a Swiss army knife. He's a guy who's a bit of an agitator, a bit of a disturber, something we wanted to bring back into our lineup."
Cousins scored 25 points (10 goals, 15 assists) in 65 games with the Golden Knights and Montreal Canadiens last season including three points (one goal, two assists) in seven games after he was traded to Vegas on Feb. 24. Cousins had five assists in 17 Stanley Cup Playoff games.
Selected by the Philadelphia Flyers in the third round (No. 68) of the 2011 NHL Draft, Cousins has scored 98 points (41 goals, 57 assists) in 324 regular-season games with the Flyers, Arizona Coyotes, Canadiens and Golden Knights and five assists in 23 playoff games.
