SUNRISE, Fla. — Josh Norris acknowledged that Friday was a “weird day.” He initially jumped on the ice to practice with the Ottawa Senators. Then the entire team came off the ice and when the group went back out, Norris wasn’t with them. He had been traded to the Buffalo Sabres along with Jacob Bernard-Docker for Dylan Cozens, Dennis Gilbert and a 2026 second-round pick.
Norris said there were a lot of hard goodbyes. Perhaps none were harder than the one with Brady Tkachuk, who has been Norris’ best friend for a decade. Tkachuk was fighting back tears talking to reporters about losing Norris as a teammate. Norris said the goodbye was just as hard for him. But when the goodbyes were over, Norris got a plane and flew down to meet the Sabres in South Florida. Sabres assistant coach Seth Appert, who coached Norris at the United States National Team Development Program, picked Norris up at the airport. On Saturday morning, Norris was out there with Buffalo’s top power-play unit.
“It’s a fresh start for me,” Norris said.
“For me, it’s a fresh start.”
Watch Josh Norris’ full media availability from morning skate → https://t.co/qGQ6gOiai4 pic.twitter.com/ZQwkCIiKIq
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) March 8, 2025
There’s no question Norris will have an opportunity in Buffalo. Lindy Ruff said he views him as a potential first-line center for the Sabres. That’s where he played on Saturday night against the Panthers between Alex Tuch and Tage Thompson.
“I think when you’re bringing in a guy like that, that’s really what you’re looking at,” Ruff said. “When you feel you’ve got a guy that can skate with the best, we feel his skating is elite. Defending, I saw a lot of good things with the defending part of the game. You’re looking at a guy that can play in all roles and possibly be that guy.”
That would make this trade a lot easier on Norris and the Sabres. Thompson said Cozens was one of his best friends on the Sabres’ roster, so Friday was a tough day. Cozens was emotional saying goodbye to teammates and coaches. He cared about being part of making Buffalo a winner. That’s why he signed a seven-year contract two years ago to stay with the Sabres long term. But as Ruff said, Cozens just couldn’t find his game this season. The reality of the Sabres’ situation as a last place team is that something had to change. That meant Cozens, Gilbert and Henri Jokiharju were all gone by the end of the day Friday.
“It’s just kind of one of those things where it’s a business and if you don’t win you have to do something,” Thompson said.
“Anyone that plays in the league knows this is the nature of the business. I think that gets magnified when you’re losing.”
Added Tuch: “The reason why those guys are gone is because the rest of us sitting in here haven’t been good enough this year. I put a lot of pressure on myself. I wasn’t good enough to help them stay and help us be successful. It sucks. Plain and simple. But now we have to move on and get ready and get better for the future. We have to be the best we can be for the last 20 games no matter what happens moving forward.”
Cozens certainly warmed up to his new surroundings quickly on Saturday. He landed in Ottawa at 9 p.m. Friday and was on the ice for a home game at 12:30 Saturday afternoon. He had an assist and nine hits in his Senators debut, a 4-3 overtime win that helped Ottawa in its playoff push. Afterward, Cozens was smiling ear-to-ear talking to reporters and said of his debut, “You can’t draw it up any better.”
Norris was feeling the other side of that equation. He was part of a playoff race in Ottawa one minute and is now joining a last place team that hasn’t been to the playoffs in over a decade. He knows Appert, has crossed paths with Owen Power and was a teammate of Mattias Samuelsson’s, but otherwise, he’s starting from scratch building new relationships.
“Obviously it’s a different situation, but I think for me it’s a fresh start,” Norris said before the game. “The last couple of years have not gone the way I wanted them to with injuries and stuff. But I’ve managed to stay fairly healthy this year and I really appreciate the opportunity they’re giving me. I know they traded away a good player in (Cozens) and I appreciate that out of them. Just go out there and get settled and play my game and take it one day at a time right now. There’s a lot of new things going on with a new city, new team. So just take it slow.”
On Saturday, Norris had a quiet debut in a 4-0 loss to Florida that extended Buffalo’s winless streak to six games. But he showed some of what has the Sabres excited about him. Ruff liked the work he did in the faceoff circle and his attention to detail in the defensive zone. He played just over 20 minutes and got time on both the power play and penalty kill. Samuelsson, who played with Norris for the USNTDP said he’ll be a leader. The first word Thompson thought of when asked about Norris’ playing style was “responsible.”
“Everyone knows the skill he has, the playmaking ability and the finishing ability,” Thompson said. “Just his hockey smarts, he’s always in the right spot, which is why he has the puck on his stick so much. Because of that, the guys that he plays with benefit from it. He’s one of those guys who helps improve his linemates just for the simple fact that positionally they are going to have the puck more. You’re not chasing the game as much.”
The biggest question with Norris is whether he can stay healthy. He missed 32 games last season and 74 the year before because of a shoulder injury. He feels that issue is behind him now, and the Sabres are betting on that considering Norris has five seasons left on a contract that pays him $7.95 million per year. They’re also banking on Norris embracing the opportunity he has in Buffalo. Ruff expected Norris to have to get through that, “initial shock” of being traded and saying goodbye to good friends in Ottawa. He’s confident Norris is the type of guy who can shake that off quickly, though.
It’s also clear his new teammates are going to have to get through that shock, too. This has been a draining week for the Sabres. They’ve had players in and out of the lineup with an illness that is ripping through the team. They’ve lost six straight and no fewer than half a dozen of them were the subject of trade rumors going into Friday.
“It will be good to put it behind us,” Tuch said. “Obviously there’s a lot of stress, a lot of names out there, myself included. You’re getting texts and people chatting about it and everything. Pretty much everyone’s name is out there at some point or another. Now you just have to focus on playing hockey. Everyone’s here. Everyone’s staying. We have to be better.”
The whirlwind 48 hours for the Sabres made me think of something Jordan Greenway said before the trade deadline when he hadn’t yet signed his two-year contract extension worth $4 million per season. Even with that uncertainty days before the deadline, Greenway wasn’t fretting the way others might have been. He’d been traded already in his career.
“People don’t like unexpected things,” Greenway said. “It’s uncomfortable. If you go through it, it minimizes how scary or nerve-wracking it can be. Grand scheme of things, you go to another team and you’ll be best friends with all of them five days after the trade deadline. And it’s gonna be as if nothing happened.”
But the Sabres also can’t forget this feeling if they want the team to be in a position of adding this time next year.
(Photo: Joel Auerbach / Getty Images)
