“I don’t think there’s anyone coming in to save the day,” Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin said recently. The Red Wings have lost five games in a row. Injuries to two of the Red Wings goalies have been one of the reasons for this losing streak. Sebastian Cossa was brought up to the Red Wings under emergency conditions. Cossa has played well recently for the Grand Rapids Griffins of the American Hockey League. The next step for Cossa is to perform well at the NHL level.
Sebastian Cossa’s NHL Debut
“All the pressure is on me, and I love that. I couldn’t have pictured it better,” Cossa said after the game. The recent defensive play in front of the Red Wings’ goalies put the goaltending position under pressure. Aside from an impressive showing against the Colorado Avalanche, a game that the Red Wings would lose due to the goaltending performance of Alexandar Georgiev, the team’s defensive play needs to improve. Georgiev was subsequently traded to the San Jose Sharks for goalie Mackenzie Blackwood.
Despite scoring a goal against the Sabres, defenseman Moritz Seider has seen this defensive form as concerning. “No one is happy in the locker room. Why should we be?” Seider scored a goal in the same arena where he scored his first NHL goal against the Sabres in November 2021. This is not part of Seider’s game, but if the most recent game against the Sabres was any indication, the physical side of the game is. Perhaps this is a return to the physical play that saw Seider win the Calder Trophy after the 2021-22 NHL season.
Sebastian Cossa’s Future
Cossa will be the goalie of the future in Detroit after being drafted 15th overall by the Red Wings in the 2022 NHL entry draft. The amount of draft capital used by general manager Steve Yzerman to draft Cossa makes it imperative that this draft pick works out. The Red Wings traded the number 23, 48, and 138 picks in the 2021 NHL draft in exchange for the 15th overall pick to draft Cossa out of the Edmonton Oil Kings of the WHL. Cossa played three seasons with the Griffins of the AHL and the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL.
Although Cossa did not get into the game in his first game with the Red Wings, that did not get Cossa down. In a game in which Ville Husso started against the Buffalo Sabres, Cossa came in after the first period and got the win in a shootout, making 12 saves on 14 Sabres shots when the Red Wings won by a score of six to five. Husso gave up three goals on seven shots. Cossa became the first goalie in NHL history to win such a game. “I love shootouts,” Cossa said after the game.
Cossa has proven that he can play at the AHL level. The game against the Sabres is an initial test for the Hamilton, Ontario, Canada native. If the Red Wings have long-term success with Cossa in the net, the defense in front of him must improve. Simon Edvinsson has performed well alongside Seider in his first full NHL season. The issue remains the defensive corps of the Red Wings behind these two young players. Axel Sandin-Pellikka is the best defensive prospect in the Red Wings’ system beyond Edvinsson, who has done nothing to show that he cannot play at the NHL level.
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