MLive’s Ansar Khan took note of Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman’s comments regarding the team’s decision to trade Sebastian Cossa to the Utah Mammoth for the 23rd overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft (which Detroit used to draft JP Hurlbert) last night:
“I’ve been at this long enough now to know things can change over time and your needs change,” Yzerman said. “It’s not necessarily that we had given up on Sebastian Cossa. We’re looking where we are today, what we have coming in goal presently and what we have coming behind that. We’re looking to add dynamic players, and we had a chance, with the pick that we got for Sebastian, to significantly improve our prospect pool with a different type of player and still be solid in that (goaltending) spot.
“So, obviously, where we picked Sebastian at the time, we had very high hopes for him, and he’s an excellent young man. We really enjoyed working with him. We wish him nothing but the best of luck, and hopefully he has a great career. But things change along the way, and you make moves and you pivot and you do what you think is right.”
The Red Wings selected Cossa 15th overall and spent four seasons developing him in the minors, the past three with the Grand Rapids Griffins. When the Griffins started Michal Postava in the playoffs, it sealed Cossa’s fate. He is no longer waiver-exempt next season, and the Red Wings weren’t prepared to keep him on their roster.
“With the goalie depth we have with John Gibson and Trey Augustine, Michael Postava, we felt we’ll have a good solution for a backup goaltender for the Red Wings,” Yzerman said. “We felt if we could get a high enough pick or prospect that we could afford to trade Sebastian’s rights. And when we were able to get the 23rd pick and see the prospects we felt were going to be available at 23, we were comfortable making that move.
“We wouldn’t have traded Sebastian had we not been comfortable with the depth that we have in goal with Trey and Michal (Postava), Carter Gylander, (Michal) Pradel and now (Michal) Orsulak, who we drafted today.”
Continued; Khan notes that the Wings are considering whether to bring in a veteran back-up or to stick with Postava as John Gibson’s back-up goaltender. The free agent marketplace is full of back-up goalies this year, so I’m guessing that the team’s going to bring in a veteran who can push Postava and Trey Augustine in Grand Rapids, and come up and relieve Gibson when necessary.
