Detroit Red Wings
Sophomore Jinx Hexing Red Wings Kasper
Second year starting out slowly
In fairness, Detroit Red Wings center Marco Kasper knew that this was a distinct possibility.
“I know it’s going to be hard next year,” Kasper said last April. “I personally feel like I had a pretty good year, but it’s going to be really hard to come back and do just like that and even improve what I want.”
Nine games into his sophomore NHL season, Kasper’s premonition is coming to fruition.
Erik Cernak tried getting Marco Kasper to flinch 😭💀 pic.twitter.com/H56bQh9ZKW
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) October 18, 2025
He is clearly enduring some second-year struggles. He has one goal and no assists. Kasper is minus four.
His coach is taking notice.
“Marco has some nights not consistently delivered a complete, two-way game,” Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said.
McLellan also made it a point to point out that it’s not all about points when they are assessing Kasper’s game.
“We’re not completely evaluating him on offense,” McLellan said. “The complete game is how we evaluate him.”
Things have conspired against Kasper in the early part of the campaign. He lost linemate Patrick Kane to injury. His other regular linemate, Alex DeBrincat, didn’t score his first goal until Saturday’s win over St. Louis.
Red Wings Confident Kasper’s Offense Will Come
For their part, the Detroit braintrust isn’t fretting over Kasper’s slow productivity.
“He’s had some opportunities,” McLellan said. “Breakaway the other night in Buffalo. It’ll go in for him eventually.
Colten Ellis stops Marco Kasper on the breakaway! pic.twitter.com/HYOfdvddHw
— The Sabre Report (@TheSabreReport) October 23, 2025
“I don’t know if he’s notoriously a little bit of a slow starter as far as offense goes. We talked about it a bit, but I’m confident he will hit the scoresheet at some point.”
What they are stressing with Kasper is that he keep playing the game the right way. They want to see him playing with an edge, bringing the intensity on a nightly basis.
“The more competitive he is, the more snot I guess that he brings to his game, the better he is,” McLellan said. “And I thought we got a little more out of that in New York than we did in Buffalo.”
When the Red Wings were riding a hot streak, Kasper wasn’t fretting about not contributing on the offensive side of the ledger. Now that they’ve slipped a bit, he’s feeling more of a responsibility that he should be participating in the attack.
“I think through hard work and doing the right things, you get on the good side of things,” Kasper said. “And that’s just what I’m trying to do.
“It’s just work hard and we’ll figure it out.”
