Toronto Maple Leafs Reportedly Showing Strong interest for Division Rival Center, per Insider

The Toronto Maple Leafs have been linked to Buffalo Sabres center Dylan Cozens according to NHL Hockey Insider Kevin Weekes, who reports that the team is among several interested parties.

The Montreal Canadiens, Calgary Flames, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Detroit Red Wings are all potential candidates to acquire Cozens.

A lot of talk has surrounded the Buffalo Sabres young center, as he's been linked to trade talks for the better part of the last two months.

With Buffalo middling in the Atlantic, and several teams looking to improve their center depth; Cozens is a top priority although he'll come at a big cost.

This season, Cozens has 10 goals and 16 assists, but is coming off an 18 goal season last year, and had a blistering 31 goals in 2022-23. Drafted 7th overall by Buffalo in 2019, the 6'3 forward has all the tools necessary to help any team get to the next level.

Winning faceoffs at an over 50% clip, able to throw his weight around (he has 118 hits), and while his defense is a bit worse this season, he's also playing the most minutes of his career and a lot of his downfall has come due to a struggling Buffalo team.

Toronto would certainly benefit from Cozens, and a three headed-monster of Auston Matthews, John Tavares, and Cozens would give Toronto a huge advantage going into the playoffs (even if the young forward has yet to play in the postseason).

But he's going to cost a lot. He just signed a seven-year, $49.7M contract in 2022 and he comes at a pretty significant cap hit. It's more than likely Toronto will need salary retention, on top of adding Easton Cowan, Nick Robertson, and potentially a lot more.

Brad Treliving is going to make some type of deal by March 7, however the cost on Cozens is going to be a lot.

You can't blame him for kicking the tires on the young forward, and it's not like he needs to go far. Just a trip up the QEW to Toronto, and firmly in the sights of Stanley Cup glory.