Cozens agrees to 7-year, $49.7 million contract with Sabres

Cozens, a 22-year-old forward, is in the last season of his three-year, entry-level contract. He could have become a restricted free agent after this season. He is the third player 25 or younger to sign a seven-year contract with the Sabres in the past six months. Forward Tage Thompson, 25, signed for $50 million Aug. 30. Defenseman Mattias Samuelsson, 22, signed for $30 million Oct. 12.

All three contracts begin next season.

Cozens has 43 points (17 goals, 26 assists) in 49 games, topping his NHL career highs of 13 goals, 25 assists in 79 games last season. He has 94 points (34 goals, 60 assists) in 169 games for the Sabres, who chose him with the No. 7 pick in the 2019 NHL Draft.

“I keep saying the same thing about him, it’s compete,” coach Don Granato told the Sabres website Dec. 6. “Just couple that with love of the game that he has, the love of the game hockey. He competes for the right reason being in a team sport. He brings guys in with him, he drags people into the fight, per se, which is a real indicator of his leadership and leadership ability going forward.

“There’s so many things, so many elements for Dylan. … We can assess his skill set, and I guess that’s somewhat simple and getting better by the day. But it’s the intangibles that separate him.”

The Sabres (26-20-4) are fourth in the Atlantic Division and one point behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. They are 19-9-4 since losing eight in a row in regulation from Nov. 4-19 and off until hosting the Calgary Flames on Saturday.

Buffalo hasn’t made the playoffs since 2011, the longest active postseason drought in the NHL.

“We are starting to figure out that we are for real, that we can be a top team in this league, we can make playoffs,” Cozens said Dec. 31. “We’re pushing for that. We obviously had a losing streak to start the year and we had to battle back from that if we want to make playoffs.”