Of Red Wings-related note this morning:
- File this one under, “It’s been busy and some things slip through the radar screen.”
I’ve mentioned twice now that Marco Kasper took part in some intense on-ice skills camps held by Yanick and Samuel Dube in Lausanne, Switzerland and then in Kasper’s hometown of Klagenfurt, Austria, working alongside fellow NHL’er J.J. Peterka (among other NHL and European pro players).
It didn’t occur to me until Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff wrote as much that Kasper’s status as back on the ice after suffering a knee injury that forced #92 onto crutches and out of the World Championship mix this spring = good news for Kasper’s overall health:
Kasper is back on the ice, taking part in high-level training with other pro hockey players in his hometown of Klagenfurt, Austria. Among the players joining Kasper in these training sessions is fellow NHLer J.J. Peterka.
The players are enduring a daily training regimen of nine hours – five hours on the ice and four hours of off-ice conditioning. At the helm of these sessions is former NHLer Yannick Dube, today a renowned skills coach.
Kasper also intends to once again play in the Sunshine League, a popular Austrian summer league. He will be playing for the Lendhaffen Sea Lions. Other prominent names playing in the league include Peterka, Mario Kempe, Damian Clara, and Michael Grabner
The “Sunshine Hockey League” is the Austrian equivalent of “Da Beauty League” in Minnesota, or the Eastside Elite Hockey League in Mt. Clemens. The leagues are serious in terms of their levels of talent and paces of play, but they’re not physical “summer hockey leagues.”
It may have snuck under my own nose here, but it’s good to hear and see that Kasper is fully healthy again.
2. I was also reading through a rather rambly interview that Red Wings 2026 draft pick and Prince Albert Raiders goaltender Michal Orsulak gave to iSport.blesk.cz’s Pavel Barta on Monday afternoon.
The Red Wings’ 79th overall draft pick told Barta that he’s back home in Kralovice, Czechia, playing in some charity soccer tournaments (albeit not in goal) in his home country after back-stopping Prince Albert to the WHL Final this past season.
While the interview’s clipped behind a paywall, Orsulak discussed finding out that the Red Wings were likely to draft him while attending Dan Milstein’s skills camp in Miami this past June:
The season that you spent overseas has helped you. You were eligible for the draft [in 2025], but you didn’t get selected until this year. Detroit said it wanted you a lot. Did you know that could turn out that way?
“That’s right, though I had hints. At the time of the draft, I was at a camp in Miami that was held by my agent. I had fun with Petr Jaroš, who is a goaltending scout for Detroit. He says to me, “Hey, we’re very interested in you, hopefully no one will blow you away.” He pitched it with exaggeration, but that was it. Sometime in February, I was talking to another Wings scout, Matt Dopud. He said, ‘You should be your match, then I’ll see you [there].’ But I didn’t make the meeting. We didn’t meet the scout of goalies, he didn’t text me. I almost cut Detroit out of it. It probably won’t be, I thought. In the end he was. So I was very surprised. Original Six Team, I was very happy.”
The Czechs don’t take part in the World Junior Summer Showcase every July (Red Wings 2026 draft picks Victor Plante, JP Hurlbert and Brent Solomon will all be representing the U.S. at the WJSS, which is taking place at both the BELFOR Training Center in Detroit and the WFCU Centre in Windsor, Ontario next week)…
But Duff reports that Orsulak is going to take part in a special camp for Czech goaltendng prospects:
The nine best goaltenders in Czechia born in either 2007 or 2008 will be participating in an elite skills camp with national team coaches. Among the invitees to the camp is Red Wings draftee Michal Oršulák. The training camp will last from Sunday, July 26th to Tuesday, July 28th.
