Sebastian Cossa must rebound for the Detroit Red Wings after today’s poor outing
It was not the outing that Detroit Red Wings prospect goaltender Sebastian Cossa was hoping for during this afternoon’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets prospects. Cossa would get torched for five goals during a crazy 2nd period at Center ICE Arena in Traverse City and was pulled in what was eventually a 10-7 Columbus win. But his teammates and coaches aren’t sounding the alarm bell, and fully expect that he’ll rebound and make today’s rough outing part of his mental conditioning.
Cossa is a Round 1 draft pick of the Detroit Red Wings
The Red Wings are hoping that the 6’6 Cossa will make a case to be their goaltender of the future, as he was taken with the 15th overall selection in the 2021 Draft by GM Steve Yzerman, who was responsible for drafting another towering goalie by the name of Andrei Vasilevskiy in Tampa Bay.
Sebastian Cossa must rebound for the Red Wings, and they have faith in him
Cossa was lifted from the net after allowing six goals on the 21 shots that he faced. But his teammates were quick to defend him.
“I went up to him in the second intermission and let him know it’s all right. Stuff like this happens,” said forward Cross Hanas. “There’s always going to be a game like this. We kind of didn’t do our part. We him on the penalty kill a lot. He faced a lot of shots early in the second period. It’s nothing that’s just his fault. It’s the whole team’s fault. I just told him, ‘You’re good, man. We’re sorry we put you in that situation.’ I know Coss, he’ll be good. He’ll be ready to go for the next time he’s in net.”
Grand Rapids Griffins head coach Dan Watson, who will be coaching Cossa this year in the American Hockey League, said that rough outings like this are key to a young goaltender’s mental progression.
“With Sebastian, I’ve seen it before, if he has a bad game, I know what he’s like the next day, and he’s going to do all the things necessary to be prepared if he’s called upon,” Watson said. “If not, he’s going to be prepared to be called upon once camp starts. This is part of his mental toughness progression. He’s got to battle through this, he’s got to understand it. I know he and the goaltending coach will go through some video, some situations. He’s got to be better from it and learn from it.”
TL;DR (too long didn’t read)
- The Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets faced one another this afternoon in Traverse City as part of the 2023 NHL Prospects Tournament.
- Goaltender Sebastian Cossa was pulled after allowing six goals on 21 shots in what was a 10-7 wild loss.
- The Detroit Red Wings expect Sebastian Cossa to be able to rebound from his poor outing and use it as motivation to improve his play.
Bottom Line: There is still plenty of time
Sometimes, goaltenders take longer to develop than forwards and defensemen, and there have been plenty of key examples over the years of players who start slow but rebound to have successful NHL careers.
For the Red Wings, who took Cossa with a Round 1 draft selection, they’re hoping for a similar outcome.
