Player Profile: Marco Kasper

Player Profile: Marco Kasper

https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/560848/marco-kasper

DOB: 2004/04/08 (Age: 21)

Height: 6’1

Weight: 183lbs

Country: Austria

NHL Team: Detroit Red Wings

Playstyle

Kasper was seen as a safe pick in his draft year, but the way he plays the game is anything but. He is a defensively responsible center whose skill is incredibly underrated by the wider hockey community. Not only that, but he plays an incredibly aggressive game. If any one trait of Kasper’s game is elite, it would be his compete level, a trait that Yzerman has showed to value quite heavily through the draft. He forechecks hard, he backchecks hard, he hits hard and often, and frequently drives the front of the net. He does a little bit of everything, and though he was originally seen as a high floor/low ceiling kind of guy, I truly believe that the sky is the limit for Marco Kasper. 

2024-25 Season Analysis

Marco Kasper played his rookie season this past year, finishing 10th in votes for the Calder trophy. Though he was initially sent to Grand Rapids to start the season, he was very quickly brought up as an injury replacement and never looked back, playing 77 games on the season. In those games, he scored 19 goals and 18 assists for 37 points total. Not eye popping numbers on paper, but putting his seasons in context makes these numbers much more impressive. Kasper played 31 games under former Wings head coach Derek Lalonde, scoring 2 goals and 7 points. Under Lalonde, Kasper was deployed in a bottom 6 role and averaged 14:40 a game under Lalonde. 

Then Christmas came a day late for Red Wings fans when Lalonde was let go and in came Todd McLellan. Almost immediately, Kasper was given a role on the top line alongside Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond where he began to flourish. However, the Red Wings want Kasper to be a center, so he eventually became the 2nd line center between Alex Debrincat and Patrick Kane where he made up for their defensive deficiencies and complimented their style of play incredibly well, adding an edge to a line that previously had none. With a heightened role and over a minute more of ATOI, he was able to produce at a much higher level, putting up 17 goals and 13 assists in 46 games under the new coach. He lead ALL rookies in goals scored after the coaching change and ranked 5th in points and assists among rookies as well (behind Hutson, Celebrini, Smith, and Michkov). In 82 games, this would be a roughly 30 goal, 55 point pace. On top of the point totals, Kasper ranked 3rd in hits among rookies with 156 hits and blocked 48 shots.

Through a (team-wide) rocky start, Kasper persevered and showed a truly complete game as a 20 year old rookie. He showed a scoring touch, defensive proficiency, and an incredibly aggressive game that only got better with time. With a full season of Todd McLellan, look for Kasper to take his game to the next level.

You can watch his highlight reel for this past season here:

Articles

https://thehockeywriters.com/red-wings-marco-kasper-deserves-calder-consideration/

https://www.nhl.com/redwings/news/after-promising-nhl-rookie-season-kasper-primed-to-rise-even-higher-in-2025-26

https://thehockeywriters.com/is-marco-kasper-the-future-1c-the-detroit-red-wings-have-waited-for/

https://themalikreport.com/2025/07/24/red-wings-forward-marco-kasper-aims-to-improve-this-summer/

https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings/latest-news/red-wings-marco-kasper-emerging-as-crucial-piece-in-team-s-top-six-centre-puzzle