The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan posted his pre-2022 Prospect Tournament take as to which Red Wings prospects are worth keeping a close eye upon this weekend. Among his picks are the following:
► Sebastian Cossa, goaltender: With the goaltending situation appearing set in Grand Rapids, it seems the Wings will return Cossa (a 2021 first-round pick) to Edmonton (WHL) for one more junior season. Cossa, 19, wasn’t able to win the starting job for gold-medalist Canada at the recent world junior championships but was dominant leading Edmonton to the Memorial Cup Finals. Cossa will likely get a lot of playing time in this tournament.
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► Elmer Söderblom, forward: After the social-media highlights from Sweden and breathless reports, the 6-foot-8 Söderblom, 20, is likely going to attract a lot of attention. Söderblom scored 21 goals for Frolunda and showed the shot and hands that, combined with his size, make him an intriguing prospect. It’ll be interesting to see how well Söderblom handles the speed and quickness in this tournament.
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► Cross Hanas, forward: A positive tournament and training camp with the Wings could land Hanas, a 2020 second-round pick, a roster spot in Grand Rapids. Hanas scored 26 goals for Portland (WHL) last season and reversed a sub-par 2020-21 COVID-marred season (five goals). Hanas will be looked to for offense this weekend.
Continued; I’ve weighed in regarding the roster, and here’s my take on the above-mentioned players:
Regarding Sebastian Cossa, people are somewhat legitimately freaking out now that Jesper Wallstedt is turning pro with Minnesota this season, but goaltender development is a long-term equation, and Cossa may not have earned the starter’s job at the World Junior Championship in August, but he has won a WHL championship, and the Wings believe in his ceiling.
I’m going to be interested to see whether he can calm down the people who watched him struggle in one game last year at this time and threw in the prospect towel, and whether he impresses when the NHL’ers come to town. His WHL team in Edmonton is assuming that Cossa will turn pro, despite the Wings’ crowded pipeline (see: Victor Brattstrom, Jussi Olkinuora and Jonathan Lethemon are all signed to two-way, two-way and AHL deals, respectively), but the Wings have the option of sending Cossa back to Edmonton if they feel that he’s best-served by one more year playing Major Junior hockey.
Big Elmer Soderblom is definitely a YouTube darling with no North American experience, so the prospect tournament and training camp may yield some sticker shock, but at the same time, he’s played pro hockey with Frolunda, and while he’s not physical, he will be counted upon to give a relatively thin forward corps an offensive edge.
The one thing that may get in his way is the size of North American ice (200 feet long by 85 feet wide) instead of 100-foot-wide international rinks, so I’m going to be watching his angles and willingness to play a more go-to-the-net game over here.
Cross Hanas is something of a wild card. He’s been a very balanced player in the WHL overall, and he really blossomed into an assist machine with 60 assists (and 26 goals for 86 points in 63 games played), but he’s still a skinny 6’1″ and 172 pounds, so I want to see whether his core strength and ability to bump and grind among AHL-level talent and AHL-sized players is up to par as he prepares to “turn pro” with Grand Rapids.
Anyway, in case you missed it:
The proceedings get underway tomorrow with a morning practice for the Wings’ prospects at Centre Ice Arena, and they’ll play in the first of three games on Friday, when the Wings’ prospects play Columbus at 3 PM.
