Daily Faceoff’s Tyler Kuehl discusses the Red Wings’ trade of Sebastian Cossa to the Utah Mammoth for the 23rd overall pick in this past weekend’s NHL Draft. Kuehl wonders whether Detroit mismanaged Cossa’s development:
After a solid rookie season with the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye, the Hamilton, Ont. native established himself as the No. 1 goaltender with the Red Wings’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins. An exceptional finish to the 2023-24 season and a strong start to the 2024-25 campaign led many to believe he was ready to take the next step sooner rather than later. He even got his first taste in the NHL in December 2024, earning a shootout win in a relief effort against the Buffalo Sabres.
That was, and still is, Cossa’s lone NHL appearance.
There are a number of factors that have certainly held Cossa back. Prior to the 2025-26 season, the Red Wings had three more experienced goaltenders ahead of him on the depth chart. Last year, general manager Steve Yzerman traded for John Gibson from the Anaheim Ducks. Cossa was only the No. 3 netminder heading into this past season, with many expecting him to get an honest shot if/when one of Talbot or Gibson got hurt. It never happened.
The other big problem that has plagued Cossa has been his inconsistency. This past year, Cossa had an exceptional start, even helping the Griffins with an incredible first half in 2025-26. Yet, his play tapered off after each of his last two NHL call-ups. This past spring, he lost the starting job to Michal Postava heading into the Calder Cup Playoffs. Cossa finished the year with career-best numbers – a 26-8-4 record, with a 2.33 goals-against average, a .915 save percentage and five shutouts. Yet, it wasn’t enough.
Detroit assistant GM and Griffins GM Shawn Horcoff told Daily Faceoff that there was a belief the Cossa would’ve received some action in the playoffs had Grand Rapids not been eliminated in the division finals. Things just didn’t pan out.
“We had a problem there that every team would want to have,” Horcoff said. “We had two fantastic goalies, two of the better goalies in the league for the entire season. Our philosophy is, if you play well, you’re going to get the opportunity; that’s every position. I just think Postava down the stretch just played so good for us…he earned the start, and he just didn’t let go of it.”
Kuehl concludes that the Red Wings ought not to make the same mistake with Trey Augustine, the Wings’ current best prospect in goal:
The Red Wings wasted years of time and resources on developing Cossa into an NHL-caliber netminder. While there’s optimism in the prospect pool between the pipes, fans in Hockeytown are going to have to wait another few years before that banana [in Augustine] is no longer green, and hope that he receives the opportunity Cossa never did.
For what it’s worth, while the Edmonton Oilers’ press stirred the pot regarding Cossa’s trade availability, so Cossa’s agent went on Edmonton sports talk radio and insisted that his client would be earning NHL playing time next fall, orchestrating a tense situation between Cossa and the Red Wings’ management group.
There’s no doubt that, with both Cossa and players like William Wallinder and Carter Mazur, the Wings need to change their philosophy regarding Griffins prospects–under Derek Lalonde’s watch, it was incredibly hard for prospects to earn call-ups until they had to be played, and that’s not the way you afford young players “cup of coffee” call-ups in order to give them NHL experience.
Even coach McLellan leaned too hard on John Leonard and Travis Hamonic this past year, when young players needed to be given “looks.”
That has to change so that the Wings don’t repeat the same mistakes, some justified, in terms of managing Cossa’s development. He should have been afforded the chance to earn more starts in Detroit, and he was not given that opportunity.
