3 stars of Detroit Red Wings preseason game one

The Detroit Red Wings played their first preseason game against the Chicago Blackhawks.

An interesting lineup was iced:

It’s not odd to ice a team of half the Detroit Red Wings and Grand Rapids Griffins. The intriguing part to me, the specific players on the Grand Rapids Griffins side who were chosen.

Primarily, the youth that was infused. Typically, it’s a mix of veterans and young players from both squads. Tonight, whoever chose lineup only selected the youth and I’m all for it.

Here are my three stars of the Detroit Red Wings’ first preseason game

Sebastian Cossa — Third Star

Slowly, the secret is getting out and it might be sung loudly from the hilltops soon enough. 

Sebastian Cossa is a changed man. Always an affable, driven young man, Cossa has found a new level of calm that I’m not sure he knew existed before last season.

Regardless of who or how the change happened, Cossa from about half way through the Grand Rapids Griffins season in the American Hockey League (AHL) has played like a different goaltender.

Long gone are the spastic plays with body parts flailing all over the place. 

Cossa knows who he is, where he’s going, and more often than not where the puck is heading. 

His puck-tracking skills have reached a personal high:

It’s just a period of ice hockey. Against the Chicago Blackhawks. In preseason. Without all the main Chicago Blackhawks players in the lineup.

Yet, I still buy everything Cossa is selling, as it’s a continuation of his play to close out the Grand Rapids Griffins season. 

His team might have been bounced in the second round of the playoffs last season, but it wasn’t due to Cossa. Luckily, he knows that and he knows not every puck that finds the back of the net is his fault. 

Even if it is a puck he wants back, Cossa doesn’t let it rattle him. He just picks himself up and moves on. This idea applies to games he might want to forget as well. They weren’t frequent last season, but every month or so, Cossa might have played okay (only one truly bad performance, but that was after the skaters in front of him quit, so he wasn’t alone in that performance—it was a collective effort).

Pretty soon, Detroit Red Wings fans everywhere are going to demand Cossa plays in Detroit, Michigan, rather than Grand Rapids, Michigan. This might be the start of that hype train.

Marco Kasper — Second Star

Much like Cossa, I have trouble finding a player whose performance I appreciate more than Marco Kasper. 

He just provides everything that I ask of him and more. 

Put him in the offensive zone with three seconds left in the first period. Why not? He went 7-8 in the faceoff dot, which isn’t great, but just shy of the 50% mark. For a young center wetting his whistle in the faceoff circle at the NHL level, I’ll take it. 

He can play on the penalty kill and he might create some havoc:

Would love nothing more this season than watching Kasper and Tyler Motte team up for some penalty kill pressure that we haven’t seen from the Detroit Red Wings on a regular basis for a long time.

His excellent two-way play earned him the most ice time of the young forward group with a respectable 16 minutes and 40 seconds of time on ice (TOI).

Much like his past season with the Grand Rapids Griffins, Kasper played at 110%, all the time, and I can’t ask more of him.

He always plays like he’s a kid in a candy store and has a blast every second on the ice. Wish we were all that enthusiastic about our jobs.

Carter Mazur — First Star

Quite a bit of Kasper’s write-up could be copied/pasted to Carter Mazur’s section.

Mazur is a well-rounded, spunky guy who wants to beat you any way he knows how to.

He gives his all every shift:

While his adventures aren’t always successful, it’s not ever for a lack of effort on his part.

Mazur drew a penalty, earned an apple, and played at the top of his game.

He finished atop the Detroit Red Wings lineup with a 72% Corsi For Percentage (CF%) and an expected Goals For Percentage (%) of 69.12% in all situations.

For anyone who still celebrates plus/minus, Mazur was the only +2 rating for the Detroit Red Wings as well.

As important as the moments where Mazur shined, he played a consistent game. Effort is never the question, but sometimes his effectiveness is something that I call into question. Mazur was dialed in, so that didn’t happen.

Mazur, like Kasper and Cossa, may give the veterans a run for their jobs, and I’m here for it. 

Enough sitting back, getting paychecks—earn your dang spot, please, regardless of tenure or dollar signs.