2025-26 Prospects Thread

[buddha]

53 minutes ago, slothfacekilla said:

Sadly I think we can stick a fork in Buium. His skating hasn’t improved and he’s been a healthy scratch for a bit in the ahl here.  Last game I watched him play he spent the entire game chasing the opposition in his own zone because his foot speed isn’t there. 
 

We should see Wallinder due to waiver eligibility next season, and he honestly has looked pretty solid lately.  He and Anton have the biggest chances on defense to make the club I think. Maybe if ASP can put on a ton of offseason muscle he is in the mix. 

you're probably right about buium, but maybe its still injury recovery related?  they were really high on him out of camp and then he got hurt and missed almost the whole season.

if wallinder isnt up next year he's probably back to sweden.

[slothfacekilla]

Good point that could definitely be bugging him still. It would be a big coup if he came to camp skating better next season. 

[slothfacekilla]

 

 

[Jason_R]

https://www.mckeenshockey.com/nhl-blog/mckeens-2026-nhl-prospect-report-4-detroit-red-wings-organization-overview-top-15-prospects/

New prospect report. Has Detroit ranked #4. Not a surprise that it emphasizes the strength of the goaltending pipeline. Maybe a bit surprising at this point that Cossa is ranked as Detroit’s top prospect with Postava coming in at 9 (and Augustine at 4). 

Also not a surprise to see Danielson and MBN at 2 and 3 but the write ups do not indicate a lot of upside. 

[Jason_R]

Bultman says Cossa will no longer be waiver exempt next season. 

[slothfacekilla]

I would hope he'd confirm that so I guess that's settled!  It will be interesting to see what happens.

Crazy that a difference of a month and half made him not get the extra season.

[Jason_R]

6 minutes ago, slothfacekilla said:

I would hope he'd confirm that so I guess that's settled!  It will be interesting to see what happens.

Crazy that a difference of a month and half made him not get the extra season.

I am still not sure it is true, but it does raise the same question about Postava. 

One of them will be the full-time backup in Detroit next year. If Stevie can’t send the other one down and this ends up forcing his hand on a trade, so be it. They will get good value and will still have a strong pipeline in net.

[slothfacekilla]

1 hour ago, Jason_R said:

I am still not sure it is true, but it does raise the same question about Postava. 

One of them will be the full-time backup in Detroit next year. If Stevie can’t send the other one down and this ends up forcing his hand on a trade, so be it. They will get good value and will still have a strong pipeline in net.

I know he was good last year, but if it were me I'd try to trade Gibson with some salary retention and run with Cossa and Postava.  It is risky but it can pay off.  Habs are running Dobes and Fowler in the playoffs, might as well see what we got.

 

I do think Cossa still has decent trade value if that's the route they go.

[Hongbit]

33 minutes ago, slothfacekilla said:

I know he was good last year, but if it were me I'd try to trade Gibson with some salary retention and run with Cossa and Postava.  It is risky but it can pay off.  Habs are running Dobes and Fowler in the playoffs, might as well see what we got.

 

I do think Cossa still has decent trade value if that's the route they go.

NHL goalie is so random that it’s almost impossible to predict future success.  Other than a few exceptions, there’s very little rhyme or reason to it.   Even a season or two in the league whether good or bad doesn’t mean that much in what a most guys do from one season to the next.  

Edited yesterday at 06:27 PM by Hongbit

[slothfacekilla]

34 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

NHL goalie is so random that it’s almost impossible to predict future success.  Other than a few exceptions, there’s very little rhyme or reason to it.   Even a season or two in the league whether good or bad doesn’t mean that much in what a most guys do from one season to the next.  

I'm not sure what you mean, that Gibson might not be good next season?  Obviously that's always a risk with goalies, he's probably still easier to predict than two rookies.  My point in mentioning he was good this year is that some might want to hope for that again but I immediately said I want to trade him.  My point in mentioning the Habs goalies was that it can work in your favor, not saying it is guaranteed though.  I'm struggling to parse out your point I guess lol

 

Edit: Oh god I think I'm being big dumb and you mean what the rookies would show next season wouldn't predict the future maybe?  I'm overtired!  If so then I'm not sure anyone would argue that goalies are stable season to season, still gives you more informed info than not playing them in the NHL I would imagine?  Maybe I need to eat some lunch to jog my brain haha

Edited 23 hours ago by slothfacekilla

[slothfacekilla]

That was very kind of you to just react to my madness 😂

[Hongbit]

You got what I was saying.  Whoever they choose as the goalie of the future, we won’t know the results for a number of years.  I think it’s probably a good idea to give one of the kids a legit shot next year.  

 

[Jason_R]

The possibility of trading Gibson crossed my mind. But on second thought, the trade value for Cossa is almost certainly going to be higher than the price we paid for Gibson and that we could get for him.

Also, I think it would be a bad signal to the team to trade away Gibson, who was such a security blanket for the team. If the front office wants to demonstrate that it is aiming for the playoffs, I don’t think you can trade away the reliable veteran who nearly dragged the team there last season.

[buddha]

i dont think cossa has the trade value we think he does.  he HAS to be on an nhl roster next year and he's proven nothing at the nhl level.  he's been passed at the ahl level by postava.

if he does have value, its to a rebuilding team.  im not sure why edmonton is mentioned so much except for the fact that he played there in juniors.  gibson would seem more of what theyre looking for, especially if the wings took back salary.

i would be shocked if cossa got you a first round pick.  he might get a second.  maybe.  more likely, he gets you another team's mid-level prospect or he's part of a deal for a nhl regular along with another wings' prospect or two.

 

[buddha]

at the end of the day, the most likely scenario is cossa backs up gibson in detroit and postava stays in GR to split time with augustine.

[Jason_R]

The Bultman article has some comps, including the one I posted earlier. I still think the floor is Cossa’s own draft position, #15 overall. But he could easily be part of a trade for a top-tier player.

there is some recent precedent for highly drafted goalies getting traded — although none of their situations was exactly analogous to Cossa’s.

Two years ago, the Nashville Predators traded 2020 first-round pick Yaroslav Askarov to the San Jose Sharks after two AHL seasons with very comparable numbers to Cossa’s. In return, they got prospect David Edstrom (who had been a 2023 first-round pick) and a 2025 first-round pick.

Last season, the Florida Panthers traded 2019 first-rounder Spencer Knight and a first-round pick to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Seth Jones and a 2026 fourth. And in 2021, the Florida Panthers traded goalie prospect Devon Levi (a seventh-round pick but who had starred at the World Juniors) and a first-round pick to the Buffalo Sabres for Sam Reinhart.

[buddha]

1 hour ago, Jason_R said:

The Bultman article has some comps, including the one I posted earlier. I still think the floor is Cossa’s own draft position, #15 overall. But he could easily be part of a trade for a top-tier player.

 

there is some recent precedent for highly drafted goalies getting traded — although none of their situations was exactly analogous to Cossa’s.

Two years ago, the Nashville Predators traded 2020 first-round pick Yaroslav Askarov to the San Jose Sharks after two AHL seasons with very comparable numbers to Cossa’s. In return, they got prospect David Edstrom (who had been a 2023 first-round pick) and a 2025 first-round pick.

Last season, the Florida Panthers traded 2019 first-rounder Spencer Knight and a first-round pick to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Seth Jones and a 2026 fourth. And in 2021, the Florida Panthers traded goalie prospect Devon Levi (a seventh-round pick but who had starred at the World Juniors) and a first-round pick to the Buffalo Sabres for Sam Reinhart.

then you might as well pencil him in as gibson's backup next year.

askarov was seen as a better prospect than cossa and he was traded for the 26th pick.  levi was a flash in the pan prospect who was seen by many as too small (and he's sucked in the nhl) and he went with the 28th pick for reinhart.

spencer knight was dealt for seth jones.

the deal that most resembles what the wings could get for cossa would be the seth jones deal.  you give up a top goalie prospect (picked 13, while cossa was picked 15), for a talented, but overpaid and put into a bad position defenseman on a bad deal.

so basically that would be the equivalent of detroit trading cossa and a 2028 first round pick for darnell nurse.

then you have seider/edvinsson, faulk/nurse, aljo/chairot.

[Jason_R]

1 hour ago, buddha said:

then you might as well pencil him in as gibson's backup next year.

askarov was seen as a better prospect than cossa and he was traded for the 26th pick.  levi was a flash in the pan prospect who was seen by many as too small (and he's sucked in the nhl) and he went with the 28th pick for reinhart.

spencer knight was dealt for seth jones.

the deal that most resembles what the wings could get for cossa would be the seth jones deal.  you give up a top goalie prospect (picked 13, while cossa was picked 15), for a talented, but overpaid and put into a bad position defenseman on a bad deal.

so basically that would be the equivalent of detroit trading cossa and a 2028 first round pick for darnell nurse.

then you have seider/edvinsson, faulk/nurse, aljo/chairot.

A Cossa-Nurse deal would make Edmonton twitter happy. But I don’t get the sense he wants to waive his NTC. And I don’t see Stevie wanting to bring on another big contract just as CCR are expiring. 

There is nothing wrong with keeping Cossa. 

[buddha]

20 minutes ago, Jason_R said:

A Cossa-Nurse deal would make Edmonton twitter happy. But I don’t get the sense he wants to waive his NTC. And I don’t see Stevie wanting to bring on another big contract just as CCR are expiring. 

There is nothing wrong with keeping Cossa. 

i agree there is nothing wrong with keeping cossa.  my point was there is little precedent for a goalie prospect like cossa warranting a top 15 pick and those past trades cited by max dont support it either.

if they trade cossa, its probably going to be for someone else's salary dump/rehab project.  like nurse or ep40.

[Jason_R]

Yes I get it and agree that there are very few straight up trades in the NHL and I would not expect one to occur in this case. But I don’t think his trade value has collapsed. And I don’t think anyone wants to trade him for anything other than player(s) that make the team better immediately. 

[slothfacekilla]

Please don't even speak a Nurse to Detroit possibility into the ether we don't want that

[slothfacekilla]

 

Seravalli is usually a hack so I feel like this means he'll be in Detroit next season