{"id":437964,"date":"2026-01-31T12:47:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T12:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/437964\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T12:47:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T12:47:20","slug":"nick-cousins-playing-best-hockey-of-his-career-for-ottawa-senators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/437964\/","title":{"rendered":"Nick Cousins playing best hockey of his career for Ottawa Senators"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 32-year-old depth forward in his 12th NHL season is driving the bus for the Ottawa Senators, as they fight to stay within reach of the Stanley Cup playoffs.<\/p>\n

Nick Cousins, a winger on a one-year contract worth only $50,000 above league minimum, has been the team\u2019s catalyst many nights in the past month.<\/p>\n

The primary driving force on any line he\u2019s inserted into, Cousins has made the most of a recent promotion to the shutdown trio alongside Shane Pinto and Michael Amadio.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s really playing well right now,\u201d head coach Travis Green said of Cousins. \u201cYou know, we shifted the lines a little bit. Pints\u2019 line was just playing OK since he came back from his injury, and I decided to put Cuz there. He\u2019s played up the lineup before in his career, and give him full credit, though. He\u2019s taking advantage of it. He\u2019s playing extremely well.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Wednesday against the Colorado Avalanche<\/a>, in Ottawa\u2019s most convincing win of the season, Cousins was first in on the forecheck, and won puck battles all over the ice. He even scored a beauty of a goal, making a power move to the inside on a defender and chipping a backhand shot under Mackenzie Blackwood\u2019s left arm for the opening tally.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been doing a lot of talking about myself,\u201d Cousins self-deprecated, speaking to the Ottawa Citizen on Friday. \u201cBut I said this a couple of days ago: I think consistency-wise, this has probably been my best season. Not like numbers-wide, but I just think, energy, engaged in the game, focused and I feel good. I feel really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Take a look at Cousins\u2019 ice time this season, and his ability to be a difference-maker becomes even more impressive.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s playing 10:28 a night, the lowest average since his rookie season in 2014-15.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s harder than some people may think,\u201d Cousins said. \u201cWhen there are power plays and penalty-kills and you\u2019re not on special teams, it\u2019s just kind of out of your control, so you\u2019ve just got to kind of stay focused, stay engaged and stay ready for your next shift. Sometimes it can get hard. The legs might not feel good when you\u2019re out there, so you\u2019ve just got to simplify maybe a little bit more \u2026 You\u2019ve got to control what you can control and be ready for your next shift and bring momentum to the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Best plus-minus of career<\/p>\n

When asked if this is the most well-rounded his game has ever been, Cousins \u201ccompletely\u201d agreed. His plus-7 rating is the highest of his career, and his possession stats are strong.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think defensively, it\u2019s been light years better than it\u2019s been,\u201d Cousins said. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of been my weakness coming into my 12th year, is that maybe I\u2019m not the best defensively. But I think I\u2019ve just been really dialled in in the D-zone. I think the way we play, it really suits my style, too. Obviously, that helps. And then, playing in the offensive zone is the best defence, and I feel like whatever line I\u2019m on, we\u2019ve just been able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said Green: \u201cI don\u2019t think people understand how smart of a player he is. He really understands the game, small areas of the game, and he\u2019s brave. That\u2019s one area of his game where, if you\u2019re going to be good in tight areas, you\u2019ve got to be brave.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also scoring at the second-best clip of his career. And for a guy who typically plays on the fourth line, the goals themselves have been eye-opening.<\/p>\n

In November, Cousins blasted a one-timer top right on Anaheim Ducks goalie Petr Mrazek. The month prior, he finished a slick deke on the backhand to beat Washington Capitals netminder Charlie Lindgren on a breakaway.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe boys were giving it to me for two weeks for that one,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Though voted \u201cmost punchable\u201d<\/a> by his peers in consecutive seasons, Cousins\u2019 loveable, infectious locker room presence is apparent in Ottawa.<\/p>\n

Answering rapid fire questions on stage at the Senators Black, Red & Gold Gala on Thursday night, Tim Stutzle smiled and shook his head as he admitted his stall-mate has the best chirps on the team. Cousins is also notorious for playfully yelling at Ottawa\u2019s in-house reporter, Jackson Starr, whenever he sees the 23-year-old. It\u2019s all in good fun.<\/p>\n

Two statement victories<\/p>\n

In back-to-back statement wins this week, the Sens held the Avalanche and Vegas Golden Knights to a combined three goals.<\/p>\n

The team is playing stingy, playoff-style hockey, and every player up and down the lineup is contributing. Cousins, a Stanley Cup winner with the Florida Panthers in 2023-24, recognizes a recipe for success when he sees one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI truly believe that\u2019s how you win,\u201d Cousins said. \u201cI think once May rolls around, and you\u2019re getting into the second, third round of the playoffs, I mean, injuries happen, it\u2019s a long year. Especially with the condensed schedule this year, there\u2019s been a lot of injuries. You need guys to be able to come in, plug in and play important roles \u2026 When you\u2019re playing into June, the last two teams are usually the deepest teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 32-year-old depth forward in his 12th NHL season is driving the bus for the Ottawa Senators, as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5104],"tags":[233,908,144,57,5,1123,4,53,72,11744,25,5157,489,73,1795,681,824,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-437964","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ottawa-senators","8":"tag-anaheim-ducks","9":"tag-charlie-lindgren","10":"tag-colorado-avalanche","11":"tag-florida-panthers","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-mackenzie-blackwood","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-nick-cousins","16":"tag-ottawa","17":"tag-ottawa-citizen","18":"tag-ottawa-senators","19":"tag-ottawasenators","20":"tag-petr-mrazek","21":"tag-senators","22":"tag-shane-pinto","23":"tag-tim-stutzle","24":"tag-travis-green","25":"tag-vegas-golden-knights"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115989790532835951","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}