In light of the fact that Red Wings forward Marco Kasper was named the team’s “Rookie of the Year” by the Detroit Sports Media, Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen spotlights Kasper’s status as a crucial building block for this upcoming season:
With the Red Wings unable to land another high profile scorer to play in the top six, Kasper’s expected growth is even more critical to the team’s hope to end their nine-year playoff drought. Unless GM Steve Yzerman makes a trade here soon that alters the team’s top six forwards, it looks like Kasper would center Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane again.
Even at 21, Kasper is a full service performer. His 156 hits were second on the Detroit team to defenseman Moritz Seider (212).
“I thought he had a real impact on us all over the ice, really,” Yzerman said. “He’s playing in all situations and I think most importantly is he felt like (or) looked like he was very confident out there. He was just playing. He felt like he belonged. “
Yzerman views Kasper as a dependable all-around player.
“He can really make a difference on his line and on a team,” Yzerman said. “So I think I don’t want to raise the expectation to unrealistic levels or put too much pressure on him alone. But he’s really a driven young man, really competitive kid. Every day he’s out there working to get better. So I think he’s a mentally tough kid, too. So I think regardless of the goals and assists, I think he’s going to be an even better player. Just getting more and more comfortable and he. And he really works at it.”
