How Trey Augustine is building off his first professional win

The Detroit Red Wings are empty at many positions and fans are hungry for a lot of things. Among the top of the list is consistent goaltending.

Since the retirement of Jimmy Howard, there's been a revolving door of goalies coming and going from the Red Wings. There are, of course, guys who step up and at the very least give false hope that the goaltending will be reliable any given season (remember Ville Husso?) all for it to come apart at the seams.

Things only got more aggravating when the Wings drafted and developed Sebastian Cossa only to trade him five years later.

Instead of giving young goalies an opportunity, the Red Wings keep putting up road blocks. While players must earn their starts in the NHL, if a guy who breaks records hasn’t earn the opportunity, it’s as clear as mud as to what prerequisites are needed to get a few starts for the Wings. Postava seems to have an inside track, but it looks like another goaltenidng prospect has begun his journey toward NHL time.

Trey Augustine earns first professional win

Over the weekend, the Grand Rapids Griffins swept the Rockford IceHogs. The highlight of the weekend came from the Detroit Red Wings rookie goaltending prospect, Trey Augustine. (That said, Michal Postava had another great win as well to add to his growing list of reasons why he’s ready for the NHL).

Augustine started off a bit rough last season -- understandable for a goalie coming from college-level hockey to a professional league like the AHL.

He appeared in just two regular season games for the red-hot Griffins in 2025-26. With the incredibly small sample size, Augustine registered a 3.39 goals against average (GAA) and .878 save percentage (SV%) with a 0-2-0 record. It was a far cry from his 2.11 GAA and .929 save percentage with Michigan State University over the course of 34 games in the 2025-26 season, where he ended with a 24-9-1 record.

The season before, Augustine saw 30 games of action with a 2.08 GAA and a .924 SV% with a 19-7-4 record. In his World Junior Championship appearance, Augustine recorded a 2.52 GAA, .917 SV% and 4-1-0 record across five games.

Augustine slowly acclimating to the AHL

This season, in his three appearances Augustine has recorded a 3.27 GAA and a .882 SV% with a 1-1-1 record. 

While not particularly eye-catching, Cossa had a similar start to his AHL career and even spent time with the Toledo Walleye. Even if it was an odd choice at the time, his stint with the Walleye only strengthened his confidence and helped him once he finally made it to the Griffins full time. 

For context, Cossa began his AHL career with a 5.57 GAA and .783 SV% with a 1-1-0 record. It's important to note the Griffins at that point had a different head coach with a very different approach, which didn’t help Cossa’s adjustment to the professional hockey. Once he arrived in Toledo, his numbers shot up. In 45 games, he secured a 2.56 GAA and .913 save percentage with a 26-16-1 record. In the playoffs, Cossa produced a 2.32 GAA and a .917 save percentage and a 5-2-0 record. 

Augustine is very green goalie who is steadily adjusting to life in the professional ranks of one of the world’s best professional leagues. He’s already had a guy leaning into him (just standing there without moving for no apparent reason).

With time, Augustine will get more confidence and not be afraid to own his space. 

Another goalie enters the fold

If Augustine needs the extra time in Toledo, the Red Wings have the third in a trio of Carters -- Carter Gylander, an intriguing prospect in his own right. In any other system, he would already be the backup goalie for the AHL affiliate, but with Detroit’s system being so deep in goal it’s been hard to get Gylander to the AHL on a regular basis. 

In his short stints, though, he’s looked promising. Since joining the professional leagues in 2024-25, Gylander has played in 11 games for the Griffins. In 2024-25 he recorded a 3.49 GAA and a .890 save percentage with a record of 2-1-0. In 2025-26, Gylander’s numbers skyrocketed to a 1.62 GAA and a .942 save percentage with a 7-0-2 record. With the Walleye, for 2024-25 Gylander recorded a 2.61 GAA and a .907 save percentage in 34 games played with a 20-9-5 record. In 2025-26, Gylander recorded a similar 34 games played with a 2.78 GAA and .901 save percentage with another 20-9-5 record. In his first appearance this season, his record isn’t too kind just yet with a 5.02 GAA and .844 save percentage. 

It will take a few games to get back into the swing of things, but Gylander is a promising goaltending prospect in a pipeline of shiny options.

As for Augustine, he's looking more confident in his crease. As Saturday's game wore on, he began to make some seriously impressive saves.

At any rate, the Toledo Walleye, Grand Rapids Griffins and Detroit Red Wings have promising goaltending prospects between Postava, Augustine and Gylander. It should be fun to see how this season shakes out. Augustine, much like Gylander and Postava, has a promising future ahead.

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