BUFFALO, N.Y. — The only Buffalo Sabres players that were able to win medals at the World Championship were Rasmus Dahlin and Victor Olofsson. Sweden beat Canada on Sunday to take home Bronze Medal.
Dylan Cozens led the tournament with nine goals in 10 games for Canada and I’ll get to that, but the Sabre that most impressed me was Owen Power with Canada.
Power was paired with Colton Parayko of the St. Louis Blues and they logged the most ice-time of anybody on the team. In 10 games, Power finished with a goal and five assists for six points, but he was on the ice in all situations including being the quarterback for the team’s No. 1 power play unit. He was also strong on the penalty kill.
Power showed confidence in his defending and the poise he had with the puck, especially on breakouts. Power improved quite a bit for the Sabres after Jan. 1, but what I saw in this tournament was even better. Power gets crucified by a faction of Sabres fans because he’s big and doesn’t hit like Jacob Trouba. The fact is the 21-year-old wasn’t drafted first overall to hit. He was drafted to play like he did in the second half of the season and with Canada this past month. His coaches trusted him with Canada and it put him on the ice where he thrived in the most important situations.
Sometimes it takes players a few years to develop, but Power was never given that chance in this town. It took Dahlin over three years to become the player he is now and I still think he can be quite a bit better.
This is the second time in three years that Cozens has shown up for Canada and led the World Championship in goal scoring. In 2022, Cozens scored seven goals in 10 games and was third in tournament scoring with 13 points in 10 games.
This season, he once again led the tournament with nine goals in 10 games. His 11 points ranked him sixth in tournament scoring. Not only did Cozens have four power play goals, but he was Canada’s best penalty killer at both ends. He scored two shorthanded goals including one in overtime giving him just three 5-on-5 goals.
In 27 career games with Team Canada, Cozens has scored 22 goals. Cozens was one of three forwards named to the Media All-Star Team.
After his great performance in 2022, Cozens showed up for the Sabres and went from 13 goals and 25 assists for 38 points in 79 games to 31 goals and 37 assists for 68 points in 81 games.
Another example would be JJ Peterka, who played for Germany. Last season at the Worlds, Peterka scored six goals and six assists for 12 points in 10 games and was named the tournament’s best forward. In Buffalo, he went from 12 goals and 20 assists for 32 points in 77 games to 28 goals and 22 assists for 50 points in 82 games. This season for Germany, Peterka had five goals and four assists for nine points in eight games.
With that kind of evidence, I would expect Power, Cozens and Peterka to show up in training camp and make a good first impression on Lindy Ruff and most likely thrive during the season.
I thought Bo Byram was solid for Canada. He looked more like the player that arrived from the Colorado Avalanche instead of the frustrated player he became trying to play defense without structure. In nine games, Byram had a goal and four assists for five points and was plus-4.
With nine points in 10 games, Dahlin was Sweden’s fourth leading scorer. With Victor Hedman and Erik Karlsson on the team, Dahlin played on the second pair with Jonas Brodin of the Minnesota Wild. Dahlin did play with Hedman on the power play, but I would’ve loved to have seen him with Hedman the whole tournament. I think he could’ve learned a lot from him.
Olofsson, who will only be a Sabre until July 1 when his contract runs out, had a goal and three assists for four points. He already told a Swedish news outlet that he has no interest in coming back to the Sabres, and the Sabres would have no interest in bringing him back.