I mentioned on Sunday that Red Wings prospect Marco Kasper engaged in a wide-ranging conversation with HD.se, but said conversation was stuck behind a Swedish paywall.
This morning, Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff takes us behind the paywall–to some extent–and offers confirmation of the news that’s been confirmed by Kasper himself, both while speaking to the Wings’ media members and elsewhere:
It’s not really breaking news, but Marco Kasper, the top selection of the Detroit Red Wings in the 2022 NHL entry draft, is confirming that he is playing in Sweden again this season for Rogle of the SHL.
The eighth overall pick in the draft is doing so in order to continue his school – both as a hockey player on the ice and as a student in the classroom.
One of Kasper’s objectives for the 2022-23 campaign is to be contuining his education and completing his high school diploma.
“I want to do the third year (of high school) and graduate,” Kasper told HD-Sporten. “I’ve always said that I want to do my schooling everywhere. Schools are important to me.”
Kasper was also making the decision not to perform for Austria at the current IIHF World Junior Championship in Edmonton. As part of the process for resuming his education and picking up where he left with Rogle, he felt he needed a break from competitive hockey.
“Last season was very long and ended with the senior WC (for Austria),” Kasper said. “I want to take some time off, because I haven’t had the chance to do it as much as I wanted. Then I had to go to school too.”
Continued; If I must be honest, I was a little annoyed when the news broke that Kasper confirmed on Instagram that he was staying in Sweden, because he very specifically told the media at Little Caesars Arena (me included) that he was going back to Rogle for one more season, in no small part to finish high school in Sweden five frickin’ days previous to his Instagram confirmation. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fantastic that he confirmed the situation to fans on social media, but it was something he’d already stated.
Regardless of whether he’s speaking with the American media, the Austrian media, the Swedish media or Rogle’s website, Kasper has been remarkably consistent in reiterating his “talking points” about staying in Sweden to skate at least one more season in the SHL and finish high school there.
He’s a straight-shooting young man, and I think that it’s important to remember that his father, Peter, was a professional hockey player as well. The Kaspers have a low bullshit meter, and while that doesn’t provide for “juicy quotes,” the slightly introverted Marco lets you know what he’s thinking.
He’s going to play out his senior year in high school, try to break out as a scorer with Rogle this season (he’ll probably play at the 2023 World Juniors in December/January, too), and both he and the Red Wings, who signed Kasper to an entry-level contract earlier this summer, will go from there. That’s all.
