Red Wings report: Kasper needs to raise grade

(Editor’s Note: This is another installment of a player-by-player analysis of the Detroit Red Wings roster for the 2025-2026 season. The focus is on how each player performed and his future in the organization. Today we discuss young Detroit center/wing Marco Kasper.)

Age: Turned 22 last month

Contract status: One season remains with an AAV of $886,666.

Contributions from last season: Kasper totaled nine goals and ten assists for 19 points in 81 games. He also led Detroit with 186 hits.

Figure: C

Past

When Marco Kasper scored 19 goals as a rookie, Red Wings management didn’t automatically believe he would follow that up with 25 goals as a second-year player in 2025-26.

But General Manager Steve Yzerman and his lieutenants probably didn’t expect him to score three goals and add two assists in his first 47 games.

It’s fair to say that Kasper hasn’t taken the next step in development that the Red Wings were hoping for. Had he done that, he would have ended up playing on Dylan Larkin’s wing full-time or centering Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane.

Instead, Kasper went from line to line as coach Todd McLellan tried to help him figure out how to be more productive. None of that worked. Kasper averaged 13:48 minutes per game, compared to his average of 15:27 as a rookie. His shots on goal dropped from 145 to 131, and his shooting percentage dropped from 13.1% to 6.9%.

In the sports world, this is called the “sophomore jinx.” It’s obviously not a curse, but many athletes believe it is real. They see it as a young player having success as a newcomer because he or she just plays without thinking about what is happening. They ride the wave of excitement that comes from making the show. The sophomore swoon is the result of the athlete spending the offseason reflecting on what has been accomplished and contemplating what needs to be done to continue his growth. Plus, opponents have had a full season to figure out how to fight what makes you special.

The Red Wings undoubtedly would have been a better team if Kasper had been able to score enough to keep the second center job. But the Red Wings certainly didn’t blame Kasper for the team’s subpar scoring numbers.

“We need more production from all four of our centers, and we need them to be better defensively,” Yzerman said. “It is a position that we must improve.”

Gift

Even with lower scoring numbers, coach Todd McLellan kept Kasper in the lineup because he contributed in other ways. His faceoff percentage increased from 44.9% in his rookie season to 51.3% this past season.

He was second on the team in hits in 2025-26 after finishing second in his first season.

Kasper competes hard. He goes to the net. The Austrian attacker understands his defensive responsibility.

“I’m saying the same thing I’ve been saying all year,” McLellan said. “Not easy when you come back and you have high expectations, not only internally from himself and his teammates and the staff, but also externally, and that doesn’t go very well for you. So he has to deal with a lot as a young man.”

McLellan said the coaching staff should take some of the blame.

“How we use it,” McLellan said. “We bounce him back and forth quite a bit. He’s a wing. He’s a center. Ironically, it’s because we believe in him.”

Future

In Marco Kasper’s draft year, a scout told DHN that he wasn’t sure how much Kasper would score, but that he was confident he could help a team win games.

That hasn’t changed.

“We continue to have high hopes and expectations for Marco Kasper,” said Yzerman.

While it is true that the Red Wings will pursue the acquisition of a veteran center, Kasper is still very much in the picture. If they can’t bring in a scoring winger to play on the top line, the Red Wings can give him another chance by playing with Larkin and Raymond.

The most likely scenario would be to deploy him as a third-line center, perhaps playing with Carter Mazur and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard. All three are hitters, and that line could make this team harder to play against. Let’s not forget that he scored 17 even-strength goals in his rookie season. If Kasper shows the return of goal production, the Red Wings would love to have him on the score line.

“He has a range of skills,” McLellan said. “He has a drive and an attitude that I think will allow him to work through all of this.”

Next offer: With no one quite sure what we’ll see from him this season, neither player nor team would want to talk about a contract before next summer.

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