The post Kasper an Enigma For Red Wings appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now.
When Marco Kasper scored 19 goals in his rookie season with the Detroit Red Wings, the fan base went all Charles Dickens in celebration of the event.
There were great expectations for Kasper everywhere you looked.
Maybe even between Kasper’s ears, wondered Red Wings coach Todd McLellan.
“I do believe when he goes home in the summer, his mind is thinking, ‘You know, that way it’s going to be a 25-goal year (next season),'” McLellan said.
The sophomore jinx came down on top of Kasper like a ton of bricks.
“It’s hard as a sophomore to come back and really understand what’s going to happen,” McLellan said. “You have to experience it a little bit.”
The Austrian forward counted one point, a goal, through his first 10 games. Despite mostly playing at center, Kasper went 30 games before collecting his first assist of the season. He endured a 36-game goalless drought.
At season’s end, Kasper’s totals were a dismal nine goals and 19 points in 81 games. His minus-20 rating was the worst of any Red Wings forward.
Marco Kasper – Detroit Red Wings (5)Empty Net Goal pic.twitter.com/ejUuSUPmLf
— NHL Goal Videos (@NHLGoalVideos) January 25, 2026
“It’s been kind of a frustrating year for me personally, especially not scoring much,” Kasper said. “I think chances have been there. I mean, obviously, you gotta find a way to put it more in the back of your head to execute more and even create more, so that you even have more opportunities and it’s progress.”
McLellan does believe that Kasper let his struggles overwhelm his psyche at times this season.
“I don’t know if he could let go of it sometimes when he had to,” McLellan said. “But he wasn’t pouting, he wasn’t sulking, he didn’t get lazy. He probably held onto it a little bit too much.”
On the one hand, McLellan doesn’t think that the real Kasper was the one who tabulated points so effortlessly during the second half of the 2024-25 season.
“I’m not sure he had a complete rookie year,” McLellan said. “I think from Christmas on, he, or maybe even January on, he started to really click.
“We looked at his analytics, his stats. I think his shooting percentage from the point of the coaching change to the end of the year was 36% or something like that. It’s very unrealistic that anybody’s going to stay at that pace. It’s never happened.
“So we knew that he would come back down to earth.”
Marco Kasper gives the Red Wings a 3-0 lead! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/mftn5RCYAu
— Sports on Prime Canada (@SportsOnPrimeCA) March 27, 2026