Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen pretty much closes the book on Red Wings 8th overall 2022 draft pick Marco Kasper with this notebook article regarding Kris Draper and Steve Yzerman’s summation of Kasper’s skill set:
“I also think there’s more skill than what we saw,” said Kris Draper, the Red Wings’ director of amateur scouting. “I think the reason we say that is it’s a 17-year-old kid playing in a really hard league that was still able to produce some pretty good offense. We think it’s a player that has good skill and good hockey sense and a good set of hands and we’ve seen him make plays.”
Kasper seems driven to be successful. Draper watched him play 12 games live and came away impressed with his competitiveness. Draper, the hard-nosed center of the famed Grind Line in his playing days, knows something about competitiveness.
“Every game he played the same,” Draper said. “That’s pretty impressive for a 17-year-old kid.”
Yzerman said Thursday night that no decision has been made about where Kasper will play next season. He wants to discuss it with Kasper.
“He’s really fundamentally sound,” Yzerman said. “Again, I like the way he plays. He
plays very simple. He drives to the net, he’ll drive down the wing. He can take the puck to the net. He’ll also pull up and look for the late guy, or he can find a guy through the seams.”
