Prospect Roundup: Sebastian Cossa Breaking Records in AHL

This week's Prospect Roundup takes a look at Sebastian Cossa's hot streak in the AHL, plus notes on Carter Gylander, Emmitt Finnie, Marco Kasper and the Red Wings prospects in the NCAA Tournament

Don’t let Sebastian Cossa get comfortable. If you do, he’ll get unbeatable, too.

For the second season in a row, Sebastian Cossa has mastered a league in the back half of the season. Last year, he sparked an incredible run in the back half of his season with the Toledo Walleye. That run ended in the Western Conference Finals of the ECHL playoffs. Now, he’s on a 16-game point streak without a regulation loss since January. In doing so, he has led the Grand Rapids Griffins to a playoff berth for the first time since 2019.

Sound familiar?

Maybe it’s a symptom of confidence, or maybe the team in front of him has become better on defense. No matter the nuances that enabled him to spark such a hot streak, Cossa is delivering at the right time of the season. His point streak also broke the record for points in consecutive starts with this 16-game run, previously set by Marc Lamothe on Nov. 30, 2002. Cossa was just nine days old.

During this stretch, not all of Cossa’s starts have been so electric. Five of his starts came under a .900 save percentage, including the first win of this hot streak where his teammates gave him enough goal support to win. Cossa paid them back, too, with five games above a .950 save percentage. His best might’ve been a 37-save performance against Milwaukee in late February when he saved 37 of 39 shots. The Admirals have one of the best offenses in the Western Conference and the fourth-fewest goals allowed of any AHL team. They not only can score, but they’re stingy on the back end. That makes dueling them a tricky endeavor, but it’s one that Cossa handled well.

How soon can he do that with Detroit? The Red Wings could certainly use the elite starter that Cossa was billed to be when they selected him 15th overall in the 2021 NHL Draft. Starter Alex Lyon had a cold spell that he had to work out of, and he’s overperforming as the third-stringer anyway. Ville Husso is banged up with back-to-back lower body injuries, and he showed signs of inconsistency before going down. James Reimer, the current backup, is 35 on an expiring contract. None of those three goaltenders is a truly elite starter, though it’s fair to ask who exactly is in the NHL these days, anyway.

Maybe that opens up the window for Cossa to earn an NHL job in the future. It seems unlikely given that the Red Wings have two goaltenders under contract next season. But, if he continues to excel like he has in Grand Rapids, it will be a difficult decision to keep him in the AHL. That’s exactly what you want to see out of prospects — they make should-be easy decisions turn into difficult ones with their play.

When he gets to the NHL, it’s hard to bank on him mastering the league like he has in back-to-back seasons against the ECHL and AHL. But hey, he’s made a habit of it. Maybe he can do that in the big league too.

Around the Prospect Pool

Carter Gylander

We might as well call this the goalie roundup this week. 2019 seventh-rounder Carter Gylander signed a two-year deal starting next season with the Red Wings, finishing a four-year career at NCAA Colgate. He’s a rangy, 6-foot-5 goaltender who never had a season below a .900 save percentage. However, his senior year that just ended was his worst in almost all statistical categories, even though the Colgate team in front of him wasn’t exactly stellar to help him out.

I had the opportunity to watch Gylander last year in an NCAA Regional against Michigan. He stopped 15 of the 16 shots he faced in the first period, but he let in eight goals on 33 shots overall against the NCAA’s best offense that year. That Wolverines team was paced by the likes of Adam Fantilli, Luke Hughes, Rutger McGroarty, Mackie Samoskevich — I could keep listing, but you get the point. It wasn’t exactly a fair fight, but Gylander fell apart once he fully cracked. He’ll have much more support in Grand Rapids, and his size is something a coach can’t teach. However, it seems like he has a lot to develop.

Emmitt Finnie

More contract news: Emmitt Finnie signed his entry-level deal, too. The 18-year-old forward from the Kamloops Blazers was a seventh-round pick at last year’s NHL Draft, but he scored at nearly a point-per-game pace in the WHL this season. I wrote about him in a Prospect Roundup a while back when he sparked a long point streak. If he can play in any NHL games down the line as a seventh-rounder, that will be a win for Detroit.

Marco Kasper

With Jonatan Berggren and Austin Czarnik called up to the NHL, Grand Rapids had every excuse to take its foot off the gas this month. Instead, Marco Kasper stomped on it. He scored seven points in 11 games this month, including five in the seven games that Berggren was in the NHL. He became the top line center for the Griffins during that stretch. Kasper’s game centers around his defensive work as much as it does his ability to score, but his fire this month shows that he’s putting the pieces together at the AHL level.

NCAA Tournament

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. The NCAA Tournament is underway. To help you keep track of the Red Wings prospects playing in it, here’s a list of the participants, as well as their games played and point totals this season.

Denver
D Shai Buium (40 GP, 7-27-34, +30)

Michigan
F Kienan Draper (34 GP, 4-8-12, +6)

Michigan State
F Red Savage (36 GP, 10-16-26, +11)
G Trey Augustine (33 GP, 2.88 GAA, .918 SV%, 22-8-2)

North Dakota
F Dylan James (39 GP, 9-10-19, +12)

Quinnipiac
D Cooper Moore (37 GP, 3-19-22, +26)

Wisconsin
F Owen Mehlenbacher (25 GP, 1-2-3, +4)
F Sam Stange (7 GP, 0-0-0 -2)
D Brady Cleveland (16 GP, 0-0-0, -3)

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