Yesterday morning, one Red Wings prospect, Simon Edvinsson, cracked The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler’s Top 50 NHL Prospects (skaters) list.
This morning, Wheeler ranks the top 10 goaltending prospects under 25 years of age, and Sebastian Cossa finishes 3rd, behind Minnesota’s Jesper Wallstedt and Nashville’s Yaroslav Askarov:
3. Sebastian Cossa, G, 19 (Detroit Red Wings — No. 15, 2021): Between the Traverse City Prospects Tournament in September, a pair of Calgary camps with Canada in August and December, and the Memorial Cup in June, I’ve watched Cossa play live more than double-digit times this season. In those viewings, I’ve seen him look unflappable. I’ve also seen him look rattled as shots sneak through holes they shouldn’t be finding. The same was true this year for him in the WHL, where his previously-stellar numbers came back down to earth.
Cossa’s a huge (6-foot-6), powerful, athletic goalie and those last two things don’t always come with the first. He’s a fiery, confident, talkative competitor who doesn’t like to get beat (which contrasts with the stoic demeanour we see in many goalies) and wants to command the net and the room. Bigger goalies often struggle with their movements and their recoveries but neither are an issue for Cossa. His positioning (he does a really good job holding his outside edges to be patient on shots) and reflexes (he’s got great hands up high) help him block and grab a lot of pucks. But it’s his ability to bounce back into his stance or change directions with passes that separates him. His power through his pushes gives him rare side-to-side ability for a goalie as big as he is.
But there are also some question marks. Some of them are contextual, like how good the Oil Kings have been in front of him these last three years. But others are about the tools, including some of the trouble he faces closing his five-hole because of his size (this is a major recurring issue, even though he does a really good job kicking pucks aimed for the lower corners) and the way he can occasionally lose himself in his net on scramble plays (those strong pushes to get to tough lateral saves can pull him off his lines). He can get pulled out of his net overcommitting on dekes too. His natural gifts give him undeniable upside though. When he’s set and square to shots (as he almost always is), he’s tough to beat. I still think he’s got starter upside due to his combination of size, dexterity and rare explosiveness in the net, but I wouldn’t quite consider him in the same tier as Wallstedt or Askarov at this stage.
Continued (paywall); Cossa is definitely still somewhat raw in terms of the details of his technique, but he’s still only 19, and he’s been designed to win 2-1 and 3-2 games for the stacked Edmonton Oil Kings of the WHL while playing behind a stellar defense.
I’d argue that Cossa may need to play for a worse team than this past season’s WHL Champions/Memorial Cup-participating Oil Kings to really challenge himself as a still-blossoming pre-professional.
All of that being said, picking the “best” goaltender out of Wallstedt, Askarov and Cossa is like picking your favorite flavor of ice cream. It’s easy–just pick one.
