EliteProspects’ Kareem Elshafey compiled a list of 10 1st-round draft picks who face pressure to perform well and/or “break out” this upcoming season, and it’s no surprise that Red Wings forwards Marco Kasper and Nate Danielson are on Elshafey’s list:
Marco Kasper & Nate Danielson, Cs, Detroit Red Wings
Coming out of the 2023 NHL Draft, Detroit had to have felt good about their future at the centre position with captain Dylan Larkin and a pair of highly drafted pivots in Marco Kasper and Nate Danielson.
Fast forward three years, and that future has become much murkier. Two seasons ago, Kasper (who graduated prospect status a while ago but remains just 22 years old) looked the part with a rookie year that nearly finished with 20 goals. Last season was a considerable step back, though, and having back-to-back regressive years would be a real gut punch for Detroit.
For Danielson, the question has never been about his ability to defend or stick as a centre; it’s about the offensive upside. He’s produced at a respectable rate in his AHL time, but the offence isn’t coming in inspiring ways. Lots of the plays he makes are successful when in structure or in straight lines, which only works up to a certain point. Any spontaneous action that requires him to deceive, manipulate, or create space in a non-predictable fashion is not easy for Danielson. A centre who is constantly conscious of the defensive side is still valuable. Still, if that comes with a clear trade-off of the creative aspect of his offence, it will lead to limitations in his game that may prevent him from justifying his top-ten selection.
To top it all off, the Larkin trade request only elevates the pressure on the two young centres to potentially fill that void. But it’s too early to disregard either of them as foundational pieces, which is why they’re on this list going into the season.
Continued; as the Red Wings attempt to build depth at center in what will presumably, eventually, be a post-Dylan Larkin world, Danielson’s got to at least step up and play like the player J.T. Compher was advertised to be in a dependable two-way center…
Kasper definitely has to step up regardless of where he plays on the ice. Kasper was very physically engaged during last season, but he struggled with the puck on his stick, and he struggled to win puck battles, and I’m hoping that his sophomore slump was due in no small part to an undisclosed knee injury…
We’ll find out when the puck drops on the upcoming season come October 2nd.
