Yukon's remote fresh waters are producing NHL-calibre talent in Dylan Cozens and Gavin McKenna

Buffalo Sabres' Dylan Cozen, left, faces off with New Jersey Devils' Erik Haula during the NHL hockey game between Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils, in Prague, Czech Republic, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

WHITEHORSE, Yukon — Buffalo Sabres centre Dylan Cozens had just finished a gruelling summer off-ice session when he and trainer Ben McPherson drove out into the Yukon wilderness to go fishing.

“I know the spot,” McPherson recalled Cozens saying. And within 10 minutes of casting his line, Cozens hooked a big one.

“He probably had that thing on the line for 40 minutes, and remember, he just had a workout prior to that, deadlifts and hinges. And he’s doing the same thing with the fish,” McPherson said. “He was exhausted by the end of it, a 40-something-pound lake trout. … It was like the biggest fish I’ve ever seen.”

The moment two summers ago has stayed with McPherson because it exemplified the determination Cozens puts into each task — training, fishing, hockey.

“Competitive, like, he wants the biggest fish in the lake,” McPherson said before showing off a picture of Cozens’ catch.

Maybe there is something beyond fish in Yukon’s fresh waters helping Canada’s remote territory — best known for the Klondike gold rush — in producing NHL-calibre talent.

At the 2019 NHL draft in Vancouver, Cozens was selected 7th overall by Buffalo — the first Yukoner chosen in the first round. In his fifth NHL season, he is an established top-line, two-way player with 66 goals and 166 points in 282 games.

Gavin McKenna, who like Cozens is from Yukon’s capital of Whitehorse, at 16 is already projected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2026 draft. In his first full season with the WHL's Medicine Hat, McKenna had 34 goals and 97 points in 61 games to earn Canadian Hockey League rookie of the year honours.

“We’re seeing more and more competitive players come out of there, so it’s really awesome to see,” said Cozens, who is 23. “I think I put Yukon on the map, but Gavin’s going to really put it on the map.”

McKenna’s father, Willy, crowed how Whitehorse could become the Cole Harbour of the north, referring to the Nova Scotia hometown of Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon.

“It’s the long winters that the kids have here, and their access to backyard rinks,” he added, before crediting Cozens for showing what was possible.

“He kind of paved the way for Gavin, even though Gavin would have tried his hardest regardless,” he said. “It definitely gave Gavin a little more hope.”

The two players know each other, with McKenna being friends with Cozens’ younger brother Luke. They share the same trainer. Both grew up spending the long dark winter days skating on backyard rinks built by their fathers and left Whitehorse at a young age to chase their dream of big-time hockey.

Cozens left for suburban Vancouver at 14, two years after he broke his tibia and fibula while being crushed into the boards during a game against adults. McKenna was 12 when he left to attend a hockey academy in Kelowna, British Columbia.

His father grew emotional, recalling how his son arrived with a broken wrist and then broke the other wrist during his first practice.

“That’s why it kind of breaks me up a bit because …” McKenna said, pausing to catch his breath. “You know, any normal kid would have just said, `I want to go home,′ which he didn’t do. … I think going through that and being on his own, he probably proved to himself, `Yeah, I can do it.’”

Gavin McKenna credits his family and the Whitehorse community, which rallied to his support when he held raffles and fundraisers to defray the costs of flying out of town 12 to 18 times a year for hockey.

“I do my best to give back to the community, helping with hockey camps for the younger kids coming out,” said McKenna, who is also proud of his Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin First Nation heritage. “I want to be a big motivator for Indigenous people and young athletes to believe in themselves and hopefully influence them and their dreams and their goals.”

Cozens remembers the friends and family members who made the 2 1/2-hour flight to attend the 2019 draft. Whitehorse has since developed a Sabres fan base, where most bars broadcast Buffalo games and feature a Cozens jersey hanging on the wall.

In the second-year of a seven-year, $49.7 million contract, Cozens has bought a new boat and a plot of land with a panoramic view of the Kluane National Park and Reserve. Returning home each off-season offers Cozens a chance to reconnect with nature and refresh his mind.

Cozens arrived in Buffalo last month determined to change the trajectory of a team in the midst of an NHL-worst 13-year playoff drought.

Reminded of the battle of landing the lake trout, Cozens recalled the relief and sense of accomplishment sweeping over him once the fish was finally secured. It’s no different than what he envisions it will feel like luring success back to Buffalo.

“I know that day we win the Stanley Cup, it’ll be so much excitement, so much, but also a lifelong goal achieved,” Cozens said.

In other words, he has even bigger fish to fry.

“Always,” Cozens said.