Derek Lalonde delivered disappointing news Wednesday: The Detroit Red Wings won’t see any more of their prize pick from the 2022 draft in what is left of this season.
A lower-body injury flared up in the one game center Marco Kasper played, and X-rays led team medical personnel to determine it’s best for him to sit out the last five games.
“Bad news on Kasper, unfortunately,” Lalonde said. “It’s going to be a little longer than we had expected. It’s very unfortunate, we would have loved to get him some games. The one game he played was extremely valuable. We won’t question his toughness. The underlying issue he has with the lower body, he played with for 2½ periods.
“He won’t be available the rest of the year. Nothing serious or long-term. It will cut probably a little bit into his offseason, but he will have a good summer and be ready for day one of camp next year.”
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The Wings had an optional skate Wednesday, but all three goaltenders — Ville Husso, Alex Nedeljkovic and Magnus Hellberg — were on the ice. Nedeljkovic had to be removed from the 23-man roster and reassigned to the minors once Husso was available Tuesday, because Nedeljkovic was called up on an emergency basis. But there is still some uncertainty regarding Husso’s health after he missed two weeks with a lower-body injury; if he can’t play Thursday, Lalonde said, Nedeljkovic will be back on the roster and get the start against the Buffalo Sabres.
“Ville is still in a day-to-day eval,” Lalonde said. “We’re still evaluating that lower body for a potential flareup. So it will be a day-to-day.”
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While the Wings are disappointed that Kasper won’t experience any further game action, there is value to him being around the team and witnessing what it takes to be in the NHL. He played 15 minutes in Sunday’s 5-2 victory at the Toronto Maple Leafs, and impressed with his physical play all the more considering he only turns 19 Saturday.
“I like him being around the process, being around meetings, learning what we are trying to accomplish,” Lalonde said. “Those habits, the way we want to develop our team game, just being around it, the value of individual clips from the one game. They are huge experiences for him. We want to have him around as much as possible the next couple weeks.”
Lalonde said earlier this week that the plan for Kasper is the same as it was last fall for 2021 first-round pick Simon Edvinsson: Play Kasper in as many exhibition games as possible, and let him show whether he should start his North America with the Wings, or in the minors.
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.
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