Prospect Info: 2022 8OA, Marco Kasper

[SirloinUB]

kasper reminds me of a young Dylan Larkin tbh.

 

[Gniwder]

kasper reminds me of a young Dylan Larkin tbh.

Huh? DBoss scored 23 goals his rookie season.

Anyways, bare minimum Todd needs to swap out Motte for Fischer. Another -1 for Marco. This one was due to bad puck luck for Motte.

In any case, my prediction is already coming true. Kasper with single digit minutes today.

 

[Coach Reggie Dunlop]

He should be sent down, regain his confidence and dominate the AHL, he’s cooled off and is now being forced to be a 4th line c which isn’t how I want him developing.

 

[KJoe88]

I’m starting to worry he might have a very… very low ceiling.

 

[Oddbob]

No points since Dec 1st, -10 in that stretch including -4 with the new coach. He's the only player that has gotten worse with the change.

He needs to get sent down.

I still think he is playing the way he should, maybe a bit of bad luck on the goals against. To me, I don't really want a young kid playing 10 ish minutes a game on the 4th line as that just turns them into checker only types. If they aren't going to try him on line 1 or 2 and give him proper linemates and minutes, then send him down to play a lot. When he does make really nice plays he has guys like Motte and Ras who just waste them like we saw the other night.

I do think that Todd doesn't trust him right now, just as I think he has a little less trust with Ed right now, as we played the Leafs who scored right away, and then immediately he switches D pairs. He made a couple of somewhat negative comments on plays Ed made, which is what makes me think he is a little leary on him right now.

 

[DamonDRW]

I’m starting to worry he might have a very… very low ceiling.

it is obvious at this stage that he is no more than 4th line grinder.

 

[14ari13]

Huh? DBoss scored 23 goals his rookie season.

Anyways, bare minimum Todd needs to swap out Motte for Fischer. Another -1 for Marco. This one was due to bad puck luck for Motte.

In any case, my prediction is already coming true. Kasper with single digit minutes today.

Motte has been very solid and very good on PK.


Kasper is far better than what he looks like now. The kid looked great 1st 10-20 games. But he needs a break. He has hit the rookie wall and a week or 2 in gr would be good for him.

 

[Gniwder]

Kasper is far better than what he looks like now. The kid looked great 1st 10-20 games. But he needs a break. He has hit the rookie wall and a week or 2 in gr would be good for him.

I think he needs the Helm treatment, just let him play in GR the rest of the season, then bring him up at the end to help with the playoff push and playoffs. He was playing at an unsustainable pace trying to impress Fester, and he's already gassed out. He probably shows it in practice as well which is why Todd has limited his ice time.

Right now I think he's gonna wind up like Copp, not the same style obviously, but as a 3C that can fill in as 2C. Someone said Lars Eller earlier, same deal. 9 minutes as 4C playing with 2 guys that can't score isn't going to help his development at all. Aside from being unable to finish, he doesn't have the ability to slow the play down, and I have yet to see him sustain a cycle for any extended time (which is why I'd rather have Fischer than Motte). All of his chances are created on the rush, but NHL defenders are good enough to keep him to the outside or disrupt his shot. Both goals were on the PP.

it is obvious at this stage that he is no more than 4th line grinder.

If that was the case, I'd leave him on the roster and just healthy scratch him to give him a break.
I think there's more, but I also think he needs a slower paced game in the AHL to figure out his offense.

I dunno what the urgency is to keep him on the roster, there's only a handful of players drafted after him that are full time NHLers.

I’m starting to worry he might have a very… very low ceiling.

I think the very worst case is Veleno V2.0. But hey, Joey's a first line winger, lol.

 

[14ari13]

I think he needs the Helm treatment, just let him play in GR the rest of the season, then bring him up at the end to help with the playoff push and playoffs. He was playing at an unsustainable pace trying to impress Fester, and he's already gassed out. He probably shows it in practice as well which is why Todd has limited his ice time.

Right now I think he's gonna wind up like Copp, not the same style obviously, but as a 3C that can fill in as 2C. Someone said Lars Eller earlier, same deal. 9 minutes as 4C playing with 2 guys that can't score isn't going to help his development at all. Aside from being unable to finish, he doesn't have the ability to slow the play down, and I have yet to see him sustain a cycle for any extended time (which is why I'd rather have Fischer than Motte). All of his chances are created on the rush, but NHL defenders are good enough to keep him to the outside or disrupt his shot. Both goals were on the PP.


If that was the case, I'd leave him on the roster and just healthy scratch him to give him a break.
I think there's more, but I also think he needs a slower paced game in the AHL to figure out his offense.

I dunno what the urgency is to keep him on the roster, there's only a handful of players drafted after him that are full time NHLers.


I think the very worst case is Veleno V2.0. But hey, Joey's a first line winger, lol.

He needs a break. Mclellan and Yzerman watch him in practice and discuss. It is obvious he needs the break and those 2 have to decide what kind of break.
I like his game, but as you mentioned he has gassed out.

 

[raymond23]

Guy is 20 years old. There’s nothing to worry about

Plenty of fantastic tools and a nonstop motor

 

[LongTimeDRWF]

He needs a break. Mclellan and Yzerman watch him in practice and discuss. It is obvious he needs the break and those 2 have to decide what kind of break.
I like his game, but as you mentioned he has gassed out.

I still think the flu bug also impacted his physical reserves, whatever the bug was, it seemed to impact some other players for a fairly long time too, (Compher comes to mind, he play was/is off for quite a while after coming back from what they called a flu bug in late October). I think Marco missed a game or so late last year due to the flu bug?

If T-Mc is truly going to give all of the players opportunities, then we should see Marco either at 2C replacing Copp or Veleno on the LW with Larks and Raymond sometime around the Sharks game on January 14 or more likely the Habs game on January 23, (assumes Marco is ready physically to do so and has had some practice time with the new line mates).

Both T-Mc and SY need the more established players to elevate their games (for both playing and trade bait reasons) once that happens, then they can get try to get Kasper (and Ras) back on track.

This plan of course falls apart if the wings go on a real tear this month and get back into firm contention, then I don't think T-Mc and SY will mess with the chemistry too much if they find a good working formula. (If we are indeed seeing more than a traditional coach bump)

This said, I agree that if Kasper cannot get a crack at the top 6 by January 23 for a 10 game or so trial period, then they certainly should send him back down for a while and bring up someone else for the 4th line minutes for 10-15 games (I personally would like to see Elmer up for a stint).

 

[SirloinUB]

Huh? DBoss scored 23 goals his rookie season.

Anyways, bare minimum Todd needs to swap out Motte for Fischer. Another -1 for Marco. This one was due to bad puck luck for Motte.

In any case, my prediction is already coming true. Kasper with single digit minutes today.

His ability to skate with the/transport the puck is very similar, and is definitely a strength for both. One of the critiques of younger Larkin was his tendency to drive wide and often take the puck to the less dangerous parts of the ice. Kasper is very similar, in that it’s been a key strength to his game but he needs to polish it up.

Larkin is/was a better finisher, no doubts about that but still many similarities to their approach.

 

[19 for president]

If Todd plans to use him as the 4C going forward he should go down and be the 1/2 C in GR. He needs to continue to develop his offensive game. Ras can slide over to the 4C role and we can bring Fischer into the lineup.

I love Marco's motor and drive. He gains the zone really nicely but he still needs to figure out what to do with the puck once he gets there a bit. Again I feel like he could do with a lil offensive seasoning at wing at the NHL. All of our vets outside of DBC were playing like trash though so we didn't have a choice.

I'd love to see him in Velenos role on the top line but I'm fine see what we can eek out of Veleno and sending Kasper down for a bit.

I don't want to see him become Flip where his offensive game never really develops because he spends so much of his time in a defensive role.

 

[ShanahanMan]

Kasper, Danielson and MBN all currently have the same trajectory of interchangeable career 3rd/4th line plugs once can easily pick up in any free agency, which is quite disappointing for 1st round picks. I don’t see any of these guys sniffing 1st/2nd line roles in their career.

No more “safe” picks. It’s made us bust the last 3 drafts, at least in the 1st round (aside from ASP and maybe Cossa).

 

[Tatar Shots]

We’re winning and playing our best hockey on the year. Why are so many of you eager to change up a winning formula? Kasper is and will be fine

 

[Gniwder]

We’re winning and playing our best hockey on the year. Why are so many of you eager to change up a winning formula? Kasper is and will be fine

Because Kasper and Holl are the weakest link?

In Todd's 5 game tenure, Kasper is -5, 6 goals against, zero points, and now plays less than 10 minutes. He's no longer "holding his own", I bet his possession number absolutely suck the last 5 games. Part of that is because he's playing with 2 wingers with no puck skills. 4th line needs a change, either Motte or Kasper needs to sit. If anything, just rotate Fischer in so Motte and Kasper can maintain a high energy level.

Holl of course, just sucks. He makes really bad puck decisions. -2 last game, one ice for both goals, one of which was his fault with a bad pass. As much as everyone hates Petry, I think he's better. AlJo looked decent with Ed, so run Gus-Petry as 3rd pair.

 

[14ari13]

We’re winning and playing our best hockey on the year. Why are so many of you eager to change up a winning formula? Kasper is and will be fine

My idea was to send him down after the 1st loss. The lineup has to stay as it is, and when the team loses, Yzerman should send him down so he can play 20 min top 6 for a week or 2. The chemistry of the team is good now and McClellan should keep it as it is.

 

[RabidBadger]

He needs a break. Mclellan and Yzerman watch him in practice and discuss. It is obvious he needs the break and those 2 have to decide what kind of break.
I like his game, but as you mentioned he has gassed out.

Yeah, I think that's a big part of it. He's adjusting to a full NHL schedule as a not-filled-out 20 year old. Not to mention he, until now, has been playing in a "system" that sets up most players for failure.

Some posters are acting like he's a lottery pick not living up to expectations. Get over your bad selves.

 

[TheOctopusKid]

The schizophrenia around Kasper is absolutely incredible to watch. I have no earthly clue why there is this much overreaction to him as a player. I feel like thread absolutely plummets every three months.

Literally wrote this back in July, the LAST time all these same ridiculous arguments came up and before he absolutely crushed in the preseason, being sent down, and playing the A, and then immediately being called back up again:

Despite have three years of professional experience already; he's still crazy young. He's basically the same age as Danielsson. Remember last year when we saw him graduating from high school? Two season ago he got his debut and looked good in his one game with the Wings in the Spring of 23', and already looked like a good checking line C and cracked his knee cap and had to take the entire offseason to recover.

After he recovered they put him in the AHL to start the 23-24 season and guess what? He started slow. He have recency bias because he ended the year so strong but his first half of the AHL season slowly and I remember a lot of this board saying what a bust he was. No offense. He's broken. Fire everyone. Orrrrrr.... he's super young, had a tough injury, and needed some time to get comfortable with a new team, new country, more expectation, etc. etc. And guess what? By the spring of 2024, he looked like a monster at the AHL. Hell of a turnaround

What's great about Kasper, is he doesn't need to be scoring to be making an impact. He goes hard all the time, he plays a really responsible two-way game. He likes being down low, in the crease banging, and chasing pucks into the corners. He is a hell of a good player and who literally every time he's been given a chance and time, he's exceeded expectations.

The fact we took this 20 year old, and put him on this team and asked him to carry the 2nd line with any number of wingers either drag their broken, old, and totally defensively liable bodies (Tarasenko, Berggren, Kane) or their offensively deficient try hards (Copp, Compher, Rasmussen) and he hasnt' been utterly blown out of the areans for the last 20 games is amazing. The one guy he has had trust and chemistry with, Burger, seems an awesome turnaround in confidence and was buzzing with Kasper for 15 games and got his groove back like Stella.

Kasper is a great piece, there are plenty of stylistically similar guys to him who have had great careers and been crucial to their teams and I have no doubt that he will be impactful. He will be fine and fine middle six center (yes, that's what he is). His offense will come the same way it has in the SHL and the AHL, the last two times the DET boards wanted to bury him so badly. Be patient, let him get some wingers, and let him get his feet wet.

 

[Gniwder]

What's great about Kasper, is he doesn't need to be scoring to be making an impact.

I have no idea which team you've been watching for the past week, I cringe every time the 4th line is on the ice. They have virtually zero O-zone possession time, if they get there at all it's always one and done.

The 4th line has allowed exactly half of the 12 ES goals since Todd took over, while averaging just over 10 minutes a game. Without even looking at a stat site, I can tell you that they're collectively (on average) at 5 ES GA/60 each. That's absolutely horrible, beyond AA horrible defense. To put it into context since we're talking per 60 stats, AA's ES oiGA/60 as a Wing was 2.9. His ES GF/60 was also 2.9 though. (And just for fun, Sprong was 2.9 GF/60 and 3.2 GA/60 ES lasts season.)

Apparently Kasper's great because he can chase down the puck, push it up ice once a shift, and shove it at the goalie once or twice a game. I'm sorry, but it takes a hell of a lot more than that to be a NHL player. If he can't score, he better at least maintain puck possession or else he's gonna see further reduction in ice time.