The Red Wings announced they’ve called up top goaltending prospect Sebastian Cossa under emergency conditions. To open a spot on the active roster, they reassigned defenseman Erik Gustafsson to AHL Grand Rapids after he cleared waivers yesterday.
Cossa, 23, ranks third among Red Wing farmhands at Elite Prospects and second at McKeen’s Hockey, although both rankings were done preseason. He’s only solidified that ranking with another exceptional year in the minors. The 2021 first-round pick out of WHL Edmonton has a .914 SV% across 115 games in four AHL seasons. That includes a .927 mark in 31 games this season with a 1.99 GAA, five shutouts, and a 24-4-3 record.
Public discourse has somewhat forgotten about the 6’6″ Cossa because of his limited NHL opportunities to date. He’s yet to make a start and only has one career relief appearance, coming into a game against the Sabres in December 2024 at the first intermission and allowing two goals on 14 shots the rest of the way. Nothing in his minor-league track record or development path yet shows he wasn’t worthy of the premier draft selection, though, and goalies taking several years post-draft to develop and make an NHL impact is nothing new.
Unlike most young goaltenders in his situation, though, he doesn’t have a clear-cut path to ‘goalie of the future’ honors in Detroit. 2023 second-rounder Trey Augustine is regarded by some as the better prospect (even first overall in their system, according to NHL.com), and he’s currently putting up a .929 SV% and 22-7-1 record in his junior year at Michigan State. If the 21-year-old opts to turn pro this spring, he and Cossa will likely be put in a direct challenge with each other for backup duties behind John Gibson next season, with Cam Talbot set to hit the open market.
Speaking of Gibson, the upper-body injury he sustained against the Predators on Monday is the reason for Cossa’s recall ahead of tonight’s matchup with the Golden Knights. Cossa will likely back up Talbot while Gibson continues to undergo evaluation, but head coach Todd McLellan made it clear postgame that he doesn’t expect his starting netminder to miss too much time.