The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan discusses the Red Wings’ lack of depth at center behind disgruntled forward Dylan Larkin, and Kulfan ponders who might have the best opportunity to succeed Larkin as the Red Wings’ #1 center:
Andrew Copp, J.T. Compher, Marco Kasper and Michael Rasmussen are options to center the next three lines, with Nate Danielson a possibility to move up from Grand Rapids. Copp had a good season while centering Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane for much of the schedule. But Copp is best suited as more of a second- or third-line center and would have extreme difficulty matching the 30-goal outputs that Larkin has produced the last five consecutive seasons.
Kasper is an intriguing wild card. Kasper scored 19 goals his rookie season playing on a wing on a line with Larkin and Lucas Raymond. Coach Todd McLellan placed Kasper at center between DeBrincat and Kane last season but Kasper faltered quickly and barely resembled the player from his rookie season.
Kasper’s production fell to nine goals and 19 points while playing through a knee injury and being shuttled between wing and center. McLellan said after the season the Wings must decide at some point where they feel Kasper is most suited for.
“Ironically, that’s because we believe in him,” McLellan said of moving Kasper around. “We move him around to different spots because we think he can do the job. But maybe we have to find him a consistent home.
“We the staff, the organization, have a very high belief in this young man. It’s not easy when you have the second half of a year and you come back and have high expectations — not only internally from himself and his teammates and the staff, but externally — and it doesn’t quite go right for you.
“He’s got a skill set, he’s got a drive and a demeanor that I believe will allow him to work his way through all of this. Some of the responsibility does lie on us too, how we use him. But this young man is going to come back and be just as determined as he was to make the team with maybe a different approach to the game and a different set of goals and not have that weight on his shoulders and perhaps take the step that we all think he can.”
Continued (paywall); do you think that the #1 center’s job is Kasper’s spot to earn?
