Sports Illustrated’s Miguel Mike Medina took note of Red Wings forward Marco Kasper’s self-reflective thoughts spoken to the Wings’ media corps after last night’s exhibition season finale against the Columbus Blue Jackets, which yielded a 3-2 defeat:
“Some things in our game, we definitely have to step up,” Kasper said. “We played very well; our forecheck and controlled forecheck were really good, but then we turned a lot of pucks over, and we couldn’t really connect on passes. So I think that’s got to get a lot better, and just trying to find the open guy and not maybe try to go lateral too much but be a little bit more direct going to forecheck when those pucks are there. We got some goals from shooting from the point even the last few games, and I think that’s what we got to do to create from the forecheck.”
Kasper’s mission is to contribute as much as he can to help the team win. He’s very skillful and crafty when he attacks the net. He played 81 games last season and scored 19 points (9 goals, 10 assists). For a young player, he has the right mindset of a winner and leader. The Red Wings have several young guys with leadership qualities, and he’s one of them.
“We practice hard, we play a little bit of a new system, and try to get adjusted to that and be ready for next week,” Kasper said.
Kasper realizes how talented this team is and how good they can be when everyone, including himself, gives it 100 percent effort night in and night out.
“I think there’s a lot of great players here, so everybody can play with everybody and just try to get out there. Whatever I do, I think I’ve got to try to do it 100 percent,” Kasper said.
You can watch Kasper’s comments here:
