The Detroit Red Wings traded up in the 2021 NHL Draft for the 15th overall selection, using it to take WHL goaltender Sebastian Cossa.
The 6’6, 212 lb. goaltender posted a WHL best .941 save percentage with the Edmonton Oil Kings, and was a finalist for the WHL goaltender of the year award after having won 12 consecutive games to begin the season. Oh, and he also recorded a shutout in his first WHL game in 2019.
“Trading up to get Sebastian Cossa, we feel he has a chance to be a starting goaltender and a good one in the NHL. We don’t really have that in our system, so we thought it was important there to trade up and secure a really good prospect,” Steve Yzerman said Monday on the Stoney and Jansen Show.
He’s the second goaltender that the Red Wings brought into the fold this week following the acquisition of Calder Trophy finalist Alexander Nedeljkovic from the Carolina Hurricanes, whom they immediately singed to a two-year pact.
So what figures to be a reasonable timeline for Cossa to get his feet wet in the NHL with Detroit?
“I’m kind of looking a little farther down the line,” Yzerman said. “He’s 19 (in November), he’s got another year of junior, then he turns pro. If he’s playing on our team in year three I’d be really, really happy, but I’d be more than comfortable with Alex Nedeljkovic. And Sebastian Cossa, we look two or three or four years down the line and Nedeljkovic is kind of mentoring. What he really does is he allows us time to be patient with Sebastian Cossa. Just let the natural development happen.”
For Yzerman, he’ll be “thrilled” should Cossa be donning the Winged Wheel in three to four years, though no specific timeline can be put into place until he continues to play within the team system.
“Whether it’s one, two or even three years, I don’t really know,” Yzerman said. “I don’t have a timeline for it. If he’s playing (in Detroit) in two or three years I’ll be thrilled, but I expect it to be a little bit longer just because I want to be patient with the goaltenders and kind of let them force their way in the lineup where you’re almost like, ‘God, the kid’s too good. We can’t keep him out of the net any longer.’ But this just seems to me like three to four years. Who knows.
“We’ve got a really good young goalie in Alex Nedeljkovic. So not only do we have a guy that can play for us now and for the next few years — and who knows, it could be for the next 10, 12 years — but we’ve got a real good prospect in the system as well. And I’d just as soon let it play itself out.”
– – Quotes via Audacy Link – –
