The 18-year-old from Carinthia is the fourth Austrian to be drafted in the first round of the NHL draft. As number 8, he moves to the club in the “Motor City”, which has already won the Stanley Cup eleven times.
The Detroit Red Wings have secured the rights to Marco Kasper. The 18-year-old forward was picked number 8 in the NHL draft at Montreal’s Bell Center on Thursday. “I’m so thrilled to have been chosen by such a great organization,” said the Carinthian.
Kasper is only the fourth Austrian first-round draft. Only Thomas Vanek, who was picked #5 by the Buffalo Sabers in 2003, was drafted higher. Marco Rossi 2020 (No. 9 Minnesota Wild) and Michael Grabner 2006 (No. 14 Vancouver Canucks) came a little later.
Kasper has ended up at a traditional club run by a legend. Steve Yzerman, once the Red Wings superstar, has been general manager in Detroit since April 2019 and has been rebuilding the team ever since. With eleven Stanley Cup victories, the Red Wings are the third most successful club in the NHL after the Montreal Canadiens (24) and the Toronto Maple Leafs (13), but have consistently missed the playoffs since 2016. The new head coach Derek Lalonde, who succeeded Jeff Blashill a few days ago, is to lead the team around Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi or the young stars Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond back into the playoffs.
Kasper could become the second Austrian player with the Red Wings. Vanek played for Detroit in 2015-16 and his final season in 2018-19. However, it is quite possible that the Carinthian will continue to storm for the Swedish top club Rögle in the coming year. At the club from Ängelholm and in the Austrian national team, he impressed with strong performances in the past season and played his way up the draft hierarchy.
The son of former ÖEHV team defender Peter Kasper scored seven goals and four assists in the regular season in the league, added three goals and three assists in the play-off and contributed six points to the triumph in the Champions Hockey League. At the World Cup in Finland, he also showed that he can hold his own against established NHL players. The striker was mostly used as a wing, but can also play center.
At the draft in Montreal, Slovaks were surprisingly chosen as the first two players. The Montreal Canadiens had first pick, picking forward Juraj Slafkovsky, who was a top scorer and MVP (Most Valuable Player) at the Beijing Olympics as a 17-year-old. The New Jersey Devils then secured defenseman Simon Nemec. Canadian center Shane Wright, who was expected by most pundits to be number one, came fourth and went to the Seattle Kraken.
The draft, in which the 32 NHL clubs secure the rights to 224 talents worldwide, continues on Friday (5:00 p.m. CEST) with rounds two to seven. Vorarlberg’s Vinzenz Rohrer is expected to be chosen by a club in the second or third round.