MLive’s Ansar Khan penned a profile of Red Wings 2022 first round draft pick Marco Kasper, discussing the affable young man’s oversized “motor“:
“He does too much, if that makes sense,” Red Wings director of player development Danny Cleary said. “He’s wanting more and more and more. It’s like, ‘Kasper, you might have to bring it back a little bit.’ There’s no issue with Kasper’s work ethic and determination. He’s got high character. He’s just a good person.”
Kasper will be competing for a roster spot in training camp. Realistically, he will need development time with the AHL Grand Rapids Griffins. General manager Steve Yzerman said it without saying it after acquiring forwards J.T. Compher, Daniel Sprong, Christian Fischer and Klim Kostin in the past week.
Kasper isn’t putting pressure on himself to make the team. After completing his second development camp this week, he’s focused on having a strong summer of training and fully recovering from a knee injury suffered in a 5-2 victory at Toronto on April 2, six days before his 19th birthday.
And the Austrian native who speaks German, Swedish and English is happy to be a high school graduate.
“In Sweden, it’s hard to try to juggle school and hockey, but I managed to do it with help from the teachers and principal,” Kasper said. “Typical day was practice first, usually started at 9, and then work out and go to lunch and then go to school for a little bit, do some work in school, go home, relax, do some more schoolwork and then do it all over again the next day.
“I’m trying to become a hockey player, but it was important for me and my family to graduate. I think it’s good for younger players to focus on other things instead of only focusing on hockey, so you can take your mind off hockey and just go to school, meet other kids, have fun outside of hockey as well.”
Continued; I’ve seen a lot of prospects over my time as a blogger, and I can tell you that Marco is going to make the NHL, and be successful. How much so, I’m not certain, but he’s going to be an everyday NHL player. He just cares too much and works too hard to not succeed.
