Detroit Red Wings battle royale: Marco Kasper vs. Nate Danielson

Marco Kasper

Here’s Kasper’s welcome video to Danielson after Danielson was drafted:

The more I analyze his game, rather than finding drawbacks or hesitancies like I normally do (I’m a nitpicker, perfectionist at times), I find that I love his game that much more.

The only other player that this happens with in the Detroit Red Wings system is Lucas Raymond. All others, I find flaws, opportunities, disappointments–whatever you want to call them, but with Kasper he just gets better.

He is everything that I look for in a player. His foundation isn’t built on skill or hockey IQ. Those aspects are part of his game, but the pillars of Kasper’s success (at least thus far) are his inner drive, compete, and discipline. 

Those aspects aren’t really teachable or something that can be learned. Players either naturally have them, or they spend a whole lot of time trying to find them (usually a fruitless venture).

Whether Kasper is playing in a game or practicing, he’s a nightmare to go against. He plays hard every shift (even on a broken kneecap, he has no problem facing off against the Toronto Maple Leafs), relentless in every way. 

Possibly my favorite part of Kasper’s game is the way he takes care of his goaltender. Few players protect their goalies anymore. 

Maybe it’s just the Detroit Red Wings that lack a spine at times, but Kasper brings that old school feel–don’t mess with his goalie. And for goodness sakes, get out of his goalie’s blue paint. 

I can’t tell you the number of times Kasper made sure his goaler had eyes on the puck or play. 

Whether he needs to use his stick, body, or just move himself out of the line of vision, Kasper works his tail off for his goalie. It’s a trait that I wish every player adopted (even if just a little or every so often).

Any time Jonatan Berggren got in a little over his head, who was the first player to back him up? Kasper. (Or Simon Edvinsson and Carter Mazur when wasn’t busy exchanging greeting cards in his own group.) As much as I think Mazur gave Berggren confidence in his game, I think Kasper elevated Berggren just as much. 

All 3 guys played off of each other well, seemingly reading each other’s minds at times. 

They remind me of the classic Detroit Red Wings at times with their play. It’s part of why the trio was so successful in the regular season. (When they were finally put back together in the playoffs, it was too little too late or so it seems.)

For all the scrums he entered and physical play he engaged in, Kasper ended his freshman campaign in North America with only 30 penalty minutes in 71 games played in the regular season. The postseason was interesting as he earned a whopping 14 penalty minutes in 9 games.

You might think, clearly he’s not disciplined. He obviously needs to cool his jets in high stakes games with all those penalties when games matter most. 

While I would usually agree with you, Kasper suffered from a 10-minute game misconduct penalty for hurting a referee’s feelings. If that penalty is removed, he’s left with a total of 2 minor penalties in 9 games. To me, his discipline is a strength considering his style of play and his lack of penalties (especially when Grand Rapids Griffins players thought the penalty box was a vacation that everyone wanted to partake in, because why not?).

Of course, there is always room for consistency.

I can tell you that to begin the season, I questioned Kasper. Wondering to myself, will he even make it to the NHL? 

I think Kasper took that question personally, as midway through the season, Kasper showed flashes of the player he could be. Although I wasn’t sure of his ceiling, I figured he would likely remain a third or fourth line center, maybe second line winger.

From about March, Kasper annihilated my expectations. He showed, he’s not just a high-motor, physical, and energy guy. Rather, he is someone who is ready to turn heads (and it’s not just because of the flowing locks).

More often than not he plays on the right side of the puck and as the season progressed his confidence did too. 

Kasper seemed more comfortable with the North American-style game, his teammates, and his role within the team. He wasn’t as concerned with fancy plays, though they still happened here and there:

His concern is being effective and helping the team win. Winning is always his main goal, he doesn’t care how or who scores:

He’s always tinkering with his face offs as well, doing everything that he possibly can to win it. His face offs could stand to improve, along with his overall skills taking a step up (from shooting to passing to skating, etc., but he’s well on his way to becoming a stellar player).

Simplifying his game seems to be the biggest opportunity. It’s clear that Kasper loves making things happen on the ice. He has the skills to back it up. 

At times he seems to forget the skill level he has and makes things harder on himself than they need to be. On the other end of the spectrum, sometimes he likes to try a fancy play that was never worth it to begin with, but his maturity has driven better results as the season went along.

As I write this, I’m realizing just how incredible Kasper is as a player and that I’ve undervalued him thus far in his career.

I started this exercise believing he’s destined for the Detroit Red Wings third line, but the more I think about it, the less confident I am in my initial assessment. 

Why can’t he be a top-line player?

There are questions about his game…

What is his highest offensive upside? How consistent can his defensive play and decision-making be? Can he drive play?

The answers to these questions are up to Kasper. I think his inner-drive will lead to surprising results for fans. His bare minimum is a third line center, but he has room to be so much more.

Also, he should be able to handle tough, hard minutes against the opponent’s best players, and in all situations. Need a goal with less than a minute to go? Kasper’s your guy. How about, defending the 3-2 lead with 30 seconds on the clock? Kasper’s my pick. Overtime? He’ll be out there every other shift if the coach is wise.

While he might not have the dynamic flare, he’s a reliable, strong, and disciplined player who will become a fan-favorite for a long time.

Nate Danielson

On the other hand, Nate Danielson brings a bit more skill from what I’ve seen in his highlight clips. He’s not as mean on the ice, but seemingly as hard to play against.

“It kind of stands out when you hear Connor Bedard [first overall pick of the 2023 NHL Entry Level Draft] talking about how tough he is to play against that brought a smile to our faces.”

In some ways, Danielson’s skating is better than Kasper’s–a bit quicker, but maybe that’s just his lankiness that I’m seeing. However, Danielson could take some notes from Kasper on preparing his body for the NHL to help his overall game (especially to help with the protection of himself and the puck).

According to the Grand Rapids Griffins website, Danielson stands 6’2” (187.96 cm) and weighs 188 lbs (85.28 kg). If he could add just a bit more to his frame, I think it would go a long ways for him.

Similar to Kasper this season, I suspect that Danielson will spend all of the 2024-25 season with the Grand Rapids Griffins. Kasper made such a great push at the end of the 2023-24 season, he likely could have played a few games if the general manager, Steve Yzerman, wasn’t so set on him playing only for the Grand Rapids Griffins.

Danielson’s junior career didn’t look great just based on the points he produced. However, his situation was less-than-desirable. His original junior team didn’t have the best record. After he was traded to a playoff contending team, Danielson’s point production picked up.

He finished the regular season with the following stats:

Brandon Wheat Kings “C”: 26 Games / 12 Goals / 14 Assists / 26 Total Points / 14 Penalty Minutes / +6
Portland Winterhawks: 28 Games / 12 Goals / 29 Assists / 41 Total Points / 28 Penalty Minutes / +20

His playoff performance with the Portland Winterhawks finished with the following stats: 

18 Games / 7 Goals / 17 Assists / 24 Total Points / 16 Penalty Minutes / +13

In his Grand Rapids Griffins campaign, he played in 2 playoff games. Although Danielson played in more games than someone like Shai Buium who saw action in only1 regular season game, but deserved to play in more, Danielson too deserved a better fate.

Danielson’s transition wasn’t as smooth as I had hoped it would be, but he went from playing juniors on the West Coast to playing professional hockey players in a league that is sometimes more physical than the NHL. At any rate, Danielson held his own against his opponents, but the Grand Rapids Griffins weren’t finding their groove as a team. Thus, Grand Rapids Griffins head coach, Dan Watson, made the decision to dress his lineup from the regular season. 

I agree with and love a lot of the choices Watson made for the Grand Rapids Griffins last season, but some of his lineup choices were not my preference. 

Danielson provided adequate minutes and would have improved his overall game. It may not have changed the fate of the Grand Rapids Griffins, but as the emperor of China in the animated version of Mulan says, one grain of rice can tip the scales, and may become the difference between victory and defeat. 

Also, I prefer watching young players with the opportunity to grow and get valuable lessons on the ice than watching veteran players make the same mistakes over and over again.

Because the lack of games didn’t hamper Danielson’s development, I’m letting Watson off the hook. It was more of the age old, “I’m not mad just disappointed” feeling.

Overall, Danielson’s skills seem to have an upgrade from Kasper. He’s a bit more effective with his flare and fanciness than Kasper, too.

He might give Kasper and Raymond a run for their money when we are discussing the most competitive young players in the Detroit Red Wings system. After watching both players, I tend to give the competitive edge to Kasper–this is just by a hair, though.

As Danielson matures, I expect his discipline to improve as well, which is another edge I give to Kasper.

In terms of highest ceiling, I suspect Danielson tops out as a second line center. His lowest ceiling is third line center. He should be able to play on both specialty teams (power play and penalty kill), and be a great option in overtime, whether 5-on-5 or 3-on-3, Danielson has the skills to deliver quality minutes.

They’ll both drive each other and help them become the best versions of themselves that they can be, as they’re both fighting for the center role behind Larkin. 

All 3 should stack up well in a few seasons' time. I can see an argument that maybe there’s no true number 1 center, but I think it’s going to become a sum of their parts that will equal great things for the Detroit Red Wings and their chase for the Stanley Cup. 

It’s a nice change of pace from the lack of centers we had in our system just 2 years ago. 

At this point in time, I think I give the nudge just slightly to Kasper as I’m not willing to bet against his inner drive.