After a knee injury derailed his sophomore production, the former eighth overall pick faces a high-stakes contract year to prove he remains Detroit’s long-term answer at center.
One of the biggest storylines heading into this past season for the Detroit Red Wings was what the next step of development would look like for sophomore forward Marco Kasper, who closed out his rookie campaign strong, finishing with 19 goals and 18 assists for 37 points in 77 games.
Entering the season, the hype was real. Kasper was expected to step into the second-line center role, playing alongside star wingers Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane, with more minutes and a real runway to build on his rookie year.
Instead, the season fell apart for Kasper as he went through cold stretches, bounced up and down the lineup and was scratched entirely at times, going from the promising young building block on a playoff-hunting roster to something closer to an afterthought. He finished the year with just nine goals and ten assists for 19 points in 81 games, a sharp drop from his rookie totals.
Following the season, it came out that Kasper hadn't been fully healthy for much of the year. He revealed in an interview with an Austrian media outlet that he'd been dealing with knee problems for a significant stretch, an issue serious enough to keep him off Austria's roster at the IIHF World Championships.
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An MRI confirmed the damage, though surgery wasn't required. Head coach Todd McLellan struck an optimistic tone when addressing it after the season, saying the organization still has a high level of belief in Kasper and trusts he'll work his way through the setback.
It leaves an interesting question heading into year three for the former eighth overall pick back in 2022. Detroit is still searching for a steady, long-term presence at second-line center position. While Kasper was pushed down the lineup, veteran center Andrew Copp had a surprising career year filling in the role, and could very well hold onto that job again to open the season.
As currently projected, Kasper is expected to center a third line, flanked by scrappy winger Carter Mazur on his left and Mason Appleton on his right, a group that will likely need Kasper to be the one driving its offense.
With a healthy offseason behind him, it'll be worth watching whether he can rediscover the form that made him a well-regarded prospect, potentially pushing back toward that 40-point range, or whether another disappointing year could put his long-term future in Detroit in real doubt, the way it did for Jonatan Berggren last season.
Berggren was further along in his development at the time, four years older than Kasper is now, but it's the kind of outcome the Red Wings will be hoping to avoid repeating.
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