Marco Kasper played about as well as he could have to prove he’s ready for the NHL in the preseason. He forechecked with tenacity, killed penalties like a veteran and nearly scored a hat trick in Friday night’s two-goal outing against Ottawa.
And yet, Detroit assigned Kasper to Grand Rapids Sunday afternoon.
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At the surface, the move appears to be another case of Detroit overripening its prospects before thrusting them into the NHL, like last season when Simon Edvinsson excelled in preseason only to spend most of the season in the AHL. But in this case, Kasper might not actually be spending the season in Grand Rapids. He might just have to wait for some off-ice business to wrap up.
Right now, Detroit has 28 players on its preseason roster, five of whom are being sent down to the AHL once they clear waivers. Among the other 23, the Red Wings have scrappy forward Austin Watson still on his professional tryout, with an NHL contract likely to follow.
There’s just one problem: Detroit doesn’t have the cap space to sign Watson — at least not yet.
To clear cap space, the Red Wings have to wait for the players it put on waivers to clear, including Justin Holl. The 32-year-old blueliner makes $3.4 million average annual value, but he was placed on waivers for the purposes of a Grand Rapids assignment Sunday afternoon. The Red Wings still have to pay Holl his contract, but not all of it will count against the cap hit. Detroit can deduct $1.15 million from Holl’s cap hit. That turns Detroit’s $198,194 in potential cap space into $1,348,194.
That $1.3 million should be more than enough room to sign Watson to a contract. That is the next step in Detroit’s preseason roster moves.
But once Watson signs, things could get interesting. The Red Wings can’t send Watson down to Grand Rapids while he is on a PTO, but they can do that once he signs a real contract. In the realm of speculation, Detroit could send Watson down in order to call up Kasper.
All this is to say, Kasper might have actually earned a roster spot out of training camp. But because he is waiver exempt, it is easier for Detroit to send him down in order to have the time and space to sign Watson to that 23rd roster spot. Kasper’s AHL assignment might just a matter of the business side of the sport catching up to what’s needed on the ice.
There is no guarantee that Detroit follows all these options — this is all speculation, so put however much stock you want in it. But such…