The Ottawa Senators have confirmed one of the biggest deals of deadline day. Ottawa is trading Joshua Norris and Jacob Bernard-Docker to the Buffalo Sabres for Dylan Cozens, Dennis Gilbert, and a 2026 second-round pick.
In what has quickly become one of the surprise trades of the deadline, the Sabres are taking a major gamble in Norris. His talent is undeniable, as the former 19th overall pick of the 2017 NHL Draft has scored 90 goals and 156 points in 236 games with the Senators. Unfortunately, his battles with injury have defined much of his career.
Norris last completed a full campaign in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season. The University of Michigan product scored 17 goals and 35 points in 56 games, leading to a fourth-place finish in Calder Trophy voting. He had some maturing to do on the defensive side of the puck, but his 1.28 hits-per-game showed Norris wasn’t afraid to get involved physically.
The 2021-22 campaign became his true breakout season. Norris finished the season with 35 goals and 55 points in 66 games, averaging 18:35 of time on ice. He led the Senators in goal-scoring as a 22-year-old and handled himself well in the faceoff dot with a 51.1% success rate — something quite rare for young centers.
Ottawa was rightfully impressed by Norris’s sophomore season. Upon the expiration of his entry-level contract, the Senators signed Norris to an eight-year, $63.6MM contract, with a 10-team no-trade clause kicking in at the start of the 2026-27 season.
Unfortunately, it’s been mostly downhill for Norris since signing that contract. Due to multiple shoulder injuries, Norris has been limited to 49.3% of Ottawa’s regular-season contests since putting pen to paper on his current deal.
Still, he’s only missed eight games for the Senators this season. He’s scored 20 goals and 13 assists in 53 games, averaging 18:20 of ice time with a 53.8% faceoff rate. Norris has improved his physicality too, registering 133 hits on the year, leading all Senators’ forwards by a significant margin. His possession quality has taken a step back with a 48.8% CorsiFor% at even strength, but much of that can be explained through his 60.0% defensive zone start percentage.
Should he remain healthy, Norris gives Buffalo a grittier option at the second-line center position without sacrificing too much on offense. The Sabres already ranked 11th in the league with a 3.18 GF/G, so moving Cozens for Norris is an acknowledgment from the team about their discrepancies.
Cozens was in a similar situation to Norris, but it wasn’t because of any injury concerns. The Whitehorse, Yukon native broke out in a big way during the 2022-23 season, scoring 31 goals and 68 points in 81 games. Believing that he had become a long-term center option in the team’s top-six, Buffalo extended Cozens to a seven-year, $49.7MM contract later that season. 
He hasn’t been worth that salary since. In 140 games with the Sabres since signing the contract, Cozens has registered 29 goals and 78 points, averaging 17:13 of ice time in a second-line role. His 47.7% success rate in the faceoff dot is nothing to scoff at, and his 51.1% CorsiFor% is on par with Buffalo’s team average of 51.2% this season.
Unfortunately, outside of JJ Peterka, Cozens has arguably become the least responsible forward on the Sabres’ roster on the defensive side of the puck. His 86.6% on-ice save percentage at even strength is the second-worst on the team, just like his -13 rating.
Still, he’s a physical player like Norris and has similar point production despite the down year. Cozens has been far more available than Norris in the last several years, making this a safer trade for Ottawa. Isolating the deal to Norris and Cozens, the Senators will save $850K between the two centers.
Meanwhile, the swap of Bernard-Docker and Gilbert will only affect the team’s depth options on defense. Despite being a first-round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, Bernard-Docker has yet to fully break out at the NHL level. He’ll finish his tenure in Ottawa with five goals and 20 points in 129 contests, averaging 15:06 of ice time and carrying a -4 rating.
Gilbert has consistently provided mild value throughout his career as a depth defenseman for the Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Calgary Flames, and Buffalo Sabres. In 107 career games, he’s scored three goals and recorded 19 points, averaging 12:10 of ice time per game with a -18 rating.
ESPN’s Kevin Weekes was the first to report Norris and Bernard-Docker were being traded to Buffalo.
TSN’s Pierre LeBrun was the first to report that Cozens was headed to Ottawa.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report the full details of the trade.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports images.