Red Wings fans have just one question for Marco Kasper following what was a stellar first season in Hockeytown once he figured things out: What kind of jump will you make in 2025-26? Hey, I’m as curious as the rest of them, given the way he caught on following Todd McLellan’s hire.
He showed a brewing three-zone game, scoring when needed, but also landing punishing blows when the situation called for it. While there are still many areas of improvement for Kasper, when we’re judging his play purely on what he did in Year 1, there’s no way he gets anything less than a shining passing grade.
Grade: A-minus - The only factor keeping Kasper from snagging an ‘A’ is that he didn’t burst onto the scene and went through some struggles. But he still aced the test since, unlike a contingent of players who struggled early, Kasper worked through them and ended the year better than anyone could’ve expected.
Marco Kasper’s 2024-25 season proved first-year players can succeed
About a month ago, I wrote a piece praising Kasper’s season, and already had a nice, little outline projecting what he might do in 2025-26. So, although these player grade pieces tend to make projections for next season, I won’t rehash what I’d written in that piece.
Instead, let’s focus more on what Kasper did this season, where he took sixth place in points with 37, along with 19 goals, a plus-1, and a 13.1 shooting percentage. But do you want to know what impressed me the most about Kasper? He stepped up to the plate when the likes of Vladimir Tarasenko and J.T. Compher, two seasoned, accomplished veterans, didn’t.
The Red Wings needed a forward to step up after it became clear general manager Steve Yzerman whiffed on Tarasenko, and that Compher was nothing more than a one-year wonder in Detroit. In these cases, you’d think a seasoned veteran would take up the mantle, but Kasper had no problem filling in the gaps.
Other players did the same, but for a rookie to rise up and snag a sixth-place spot in the points, it says a lot about what Kasper can and will do. So, Kasper showed he can produce, and you will see more of that next season.
What can Kasper improve for 2025-26?
As mentioned, I already projected Kasper’s 2025-26 campaign, so let’s instead focus on what he can improve on. For one, he can stand to perform better at the face-off dot, where he won just 44.9 percent of his draws last season, and 281 total.
Kasper is capable of good defense, but he seems like a one-trick pony at the moment, bringing a physical game that emphasizes landing punishing body checks. I’d like to see him get more disruptive and block a few more than the 48 shots he got in front of last season. He also stole the puck just nine times, so finding ways to regain possession when facing an opponent will work in Kasper’s favor.
Still, as he continues to figure out the NHL, look for him to inch closer to a 50 percent win percentage for face-off draws. And I can see him anticipating and timing would-be shots better in the future, which will lead to more blocks and even more takeaways.
