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Dylan Cozens, Ottawa Senators (Photo by André Ringuette/NHLI via Getty Images)

Senators Hit Home Run at Trade Deadline Acquiring Cozens & Zetterlund

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Jacob Billington | Last updated Mar 9, 2025 3:55 PM ET

Another trade deadline has passed, and in his first full season as the general manager of the Ottawa Senators, Steve Staios wasn’t messing around and made some significant improvements. While it was far from easy to trade Josh Norris emotionally, it made sense. Seeing Brady Tkachuk and others emotional about the trade hurt, and Staios admitted it, but taking the emotion out of it, this deadline was an absolute home run.

Making just two trades, one being the acquisition of Dylan Cozens and Dennis Gilbert, and the other bringing in Fabian Zetterlund, the Senators got a lot better, especially at even-strength.

Cozens Is An Upgrade on Norris

While they have both hit ruts at points in their development, the general consensus is that Cozens is the better asset than Norris. Cozens is younger, cheaper, more physical, a right-shot (yes, that matters), less injury-prone, and arguably has the higher ceiling. Norris has the better shot, and probably a better two-way game.

When the trade deadline arrives, general managers look at what specific part of the team they need to upgrade. For the Senators, it was even-strength scoring. The Senators sit in 31st in the league as of Mar. 9 in 5-on-5 scoring with just 117 goals. There is a sizeable gap between them and 30th with the Nashville Predators holding that spot with 141 goals. Special teams, which have been successful in Ottawa, are important, but not nearly as important as 5-on-5 play.

Josh Norris 5-on-5 Stats: 54GP – 9G – 3A – 12P
Dylan Cozens 5-on-5 Stats: 62GP – 9G – 17A – 26P

There is a significant amount of improvement here. Norris hasn’t been able to generate assists at 5-on-5, and funny enough, with a primary assist on Ridly Greig’s goal in the second period of Cozens’ first game, he has tied Norris in primary 5-on-5 assists as a Senator this season with one. Just one. Not only that, but as Locked On Senators points out on X, Cozens has just two less primary assists at 5-on-5 than Norris has in his entire 236-game career.

While Norris has also been racking up the hits this season, he isn’t as physical as Cozens is. Cozens has the slight edge in the hits column, but that stat doesn’t show the full story with physicality. Cozens is more willing to get into tough spots, lay bigger hits, and does a lot more boardwork than Norris. This is a clear upgrade on the Senators’ roster, it is just unfortunate that it had to come with such a fan-favorite and well-loved player in the dressing room.

The other two players swapped in this deal were Bernard-Docker and Gilbert. Both are third-pair guys, and Gilbert adds a lot more physicality than Bernard-Docker has. It is a pretty insignificant swap, and the important part for Ottawa was moving out a right-shot defenseman for a left-shot one. Just based on play style preference, this is a pretty even swap.

Considering Staios also somehow managed to bring in a second-round pick from the Sabres, he did extremely well on this trade.

Zetterlund is an Ideal Addition to Senators Lineup

Speaking of 5-on-5 scoring, Zetterlund adds a lot of that, too. With 11 goals and 16 assists at even strength, he will provide even more offense in the middle-six. He could line up on the second line, which would add a boost of scoring, but could also slot into the third line and make for a great fit there.

Zetterlund is built like a truck, too. Listed at 5-foot-11 and 220 pounds, he is one of the strongest players in the league. He once posted to Instagram his deadlift personal best being 660 pounds. That is ridiculous.

He adds a lot of what the Senators are missing in the bottom-six and depth. Speed, strength, and scoring. Giving up Zack Ostapchuk might not sit well with some, but this is a clear up on what Ostapchuk’s ceiling was going to be. Realistically, he didn’t project to be more than a good fourth-line center. The second-round pick is a lot easier to stomach after acquiring one from the Sabres, and Noah Gregor has been injured and scratched for a lot of this season.

The Senators did extremely well with the deadline this season, and are in much better shape to push for the playoffs not only this season, but with Cozens locked in and Zetterlund as a restricted free agent, these can be long-term assets for the Senators.