Marco Kasper has yet to make his NHL debut.
On Friday morning he completed a first training session before the away game with the Winnipeg Jets, but will not be used in the 6-2 defeat by the Jets.
The next opportunities come on the team’s Canada trip with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday and the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday. Only then does a home game against the Buffalo Sabers follow.
Overall, the Red Wings still have seven games left until the end of the regular season, and Detroit will probably miss the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Kasper not quite fit
Getting to know each other is the order of the day. “He’s a very laid-back guy. I like that he’s involved in the whole process. He’s been to all our meetings, got to skate a bit,” says head coach Derek Lalonde.
Since Kasper is slightly injured, he still has to wait for his match premiere. “He’s not quite available for us yet. He’s still struggling with a small upper-body situation from the European playoffs,” revealed Lalonde.
For Kasper, the week is still one with many moments of happiness. “It’s really cool. I’m getting to know the team,” says the Carinthian. “It’s something special to come here and go away with the team. I’m looking forward to the next few weeks and trying to get better every day,” explains Austria’s Ice Hockey Player of the Year 2022.
He is aware that it will take some change: “Because the ice is smaller, there are more fights, I think. I have to get used to being more in the corners and having stick fights for the puck.”
Kasper could become the youngest NHL Austrian
Selected number eight by the Red Wings in the 2022 NHL draft, Kasper signed a three-year contract in July. However, the young striker continued to be loaned out to Swedish top club Rögle, where he was used as a center at the behest of the Red Wings this season and, with eight goals and 15 assists, managed the second most points by a U20 player.
With the club from Ängelholm, Kasper was eliminated in the SHL quarter-finals last Sunday. Shortly thereafter, he got the call from Detroit and was sent straight to the NHL team and not to the AHL farm team Grand Rapids Griffins.
Now he could be the ninth Austrian to play in the NHL in the next few days after Reinhard Divis, Christoph Brandner, Thomas Pöck, Thomas Vanek, Andreas Nödl, Michael Grabner, Michael Raffl and Marco Rossi.
Kasper, who turns 19 in a week on Saturday, would be by far the youngest red-white-red NHL debutant to date. Marco Rossi was just over 20 years and three months old when he played his first NHL game on January 6, 2022.
Stars record for Robertson
The New York Rangers bit their teeth at the Buffalo Sabers on goalie debutant Devon Levi, he made 31 saves after overtime in a 3-2 home win. On Sunday, the Rangers are guests in the LAOLA1-LIVE game at the Washington Capitals (starting at 7:00 p.m. on the LIVE stream>>>).
Jason Robertson leads the Dallas Stars with four points (one goal, three assists) to a 5-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes. With 42 goals and 53 assists, he sets a new franchise record in terms of scoring.
The Calgary Flames beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-4 away in overtime.