The Detroit Red Wings and GM Steve Yzerman got their man tonight during Day 1 of the 2022 NHL Draft, selecting Austrian forward Marco Kasper with the No. 8 overall selection. Kasper most recently played in the Swedish Hockey League with Rögle BK.
With the 8th pick in the 2022 #NHLDraft, the #RedWings select…
Center Marco Kasper! 🙌#DRWDraft x #LGRW pic.twitter.com/DmkFfXmr0E
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 8, 2022
According to Yzerman himself shortly after the selection was made, they view him as a player who can fit in their top-6 and who can be versatile. However, he didn’t give a specific time table as to when fans could expect to see him as a regular in the lineup .
“Well, he probably can play all three forward positions, but we drafted him as a counterman,” Yzerman said. “We think he has underrated skill and has the ability to play in our top 6. One day, I can’t tell you if it’s next year or if it’s the year after, but we have high hopes for him and we are very excited to pick him.”
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Steve Yzerman explained his team’s drafting of Marco Kasper
Yzerman was then asked about the status of the team’s rebuild:
“Well it’s my third year as GM, so I think we’re in year 3 of the rebuild,” he explained.
As far as what Detroit’s next matter of business is, Yzerman explained that the team will keep their focus on their remaining picks before turning their attention to free agency and potential trades.
“Well, we have lots to do, I can’t really predict,” he said. “We have the rest of the Draft to go, we’ll explore the trade market if we can, but we’ll ultimately look at free agency and see if we can improve our team that way. We have some roster spots to fill, and we’ll look at all avenues to try and do that.
“Preparing for the 2nd round – we’ll get through the first round tonight, and get ready for the remainder of the draft. I think we have 9 picks left, and we’ll see what happens.”
