Yukon's Dylan Cozens signs $50-million, 7-year deal with the Buffalo Sabres

Dylan Cozens, the 22-year-old "workhorse from Whitehorse," has inked a deal with the Buffalo Sabres, signing a seven-year contract extension worth almost $50 million. 

The deal, first reported at NHL.com, comes as Cozens is having a break-out hockey season with the Sabres, earning 43 points in 49 games.

Craig Button is an analyst with TSN who's been following Cozens since his junior hockey days.  

He called it a "great deal" and said it showed the Sabres are willing to commit to young hockey players. 

"I have no doubt in my mind this team is moving clearly in the direction of being a Stanley Cup contender," Button said, adding: "This Buffalo Sabres team is not going to be a contender for one year or two years. They're going to be a contender for a lot of years."

Button, a former general manager himself and Stanley Cup winner, said he's seeing a team that's putting the right players in place, and not asking too much of any one player. 

Cozens is the third Sabres player to sign multi-million-dollar, multi-year contracts in the last six months. The others are Tage Thompson, 25, and Mattias Samuelsson, 22. 

Button calls that a major element of success for young players like Cozens.

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Button is credited with giving Cozens his nickname, "the workhorse from Whitehorse." He said he's happy the moniker has stuck.

"It's nice when a player has that type of work ethic," Button said. "Sometimes you use that term workhorse, it connotes somebody that just works. Dylan works and he has the skill. Let's be very clear there. They've worked in unison and made him a real impactful player." 

Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai gave a shout-out to Cozens in an interview with CBC Yukon Tuesday.  

"That was quite incredible, seeing what he put together," Pillai said. "And I think we probably have some more hockey players and athletes over the next number of years that seem like they're just going to be, again, doing great things on the national stage and the international stage."

Pillai also joked earlier in the interview, comparing Cozens' deal to the health care funding Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered to provinces and territories. 

"You know, it's a tough day. I think the benchmark got set by Dylan Cozens earlier today on his deal, so it was just, you know, trying to make sure that we could negotiate a little bit harder and make sure we were looking after Yukoners and the Yukon health-care system."