MLive’s Ansar Khan took note of Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman’s remarks regarding the future of top goaltending prospect Sebastian Cossa, who may end up spending one more season in Grand Rapids.
Why? The Griffins’ starter watched Detroit add Petr Mrazek to the goaltending mix, and both Mrazek and Cam Talbot have contracts which extend into next season, which means that Cossa would have to “steal a job” to earn a regular goaltending spot in Detroit:
“I’d rather take a conservative approach and if the season ends so strongly for Sebastian in GR and he has a good off-season and a good preseason and simply forces his way in, that would be a great thing,” general manager Steve Yzerman said.
“But right now, looking at the (goalie) market for next year, we felt not only does Petr help us short-term for the remainder of this year he gives us some solidity going into next year. And if we want to do something different, I don’t think what we’ve done precludes us from doing that. If we think there’s something that is a real upgrade that makes sense, whether in a trade or whatnot, we’ll do that. But let’s see how the season itself plays out.”
Cossa, 22, is 17-10-5 with a 2.36 goals-against average and .914 save percentage with the Griffins. He’s appeared in one NHL game – not by design. Injuries to Talbot and Lyon prompted the Red Wings to recall Cossa on Dec. 2 to back-up Ville Husso. One week later, Cossa replaced Husso at the start of the second period and stopped 12-of-14 shots through the final two periods and overtime in a 6-5 shootout victory at Buffalo.
“For the most part, I think Sebastian’s had a really good year.” Yzerman said. “He continues to improve. Before I kind of fully assess him or make my determination on where he’s at in his career, we’ve got a stretch run here and hopefully a good playoff run and I’ll kind of make my final evaluation when the season is over.”
I think Yzerman does not have trust in Cossa and will never let the kid get a shot. He should have been getting most of the starts in Grand Rapids, not sharing time with 2 other veterans who have no future with the Red Wings. 3 headed goalie monster is killing Cossa.