Sebastian Cossa began his Detroit Red Wings career with an appearance in Buffalo, New York. It ended there, too.
The Wings traded the 23-year-old former first-round pick on Friday, June 26, sending him to the Utah Mammoth for the No. 23 pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. General manager Steve Yzerman then used it on J.P. Hurlbert, a slick forward with a knack for scoring.
Hurlbert looks like a good first-round pick, but they all do in the immediate aftermath. Cossa certainly did when Yzerman traded up with the Dallas Stars to select Cossa at No. 15 in 2021.
“Coss was a great prospect for us,” assistant general manager and director of amateur scouting Kris Draper said Friday. “We really invested a lot of time and felt that Sebastian continued to grow and he did get better. He was a pro.”
Just how far Cossa had dropped on the Wings’ goaltending chart was made clear entering the last week of the season. Eliminated from the NHL playoff race with two games remaining, Wings coach Todd McLellan was asked about calling up Cossa to play in those games. The Grand Rapids Griffins had long since clinched a spot in the AHL playoffs, and had both Michal Postava and Trey Augustine available to play. Postava had, in fact, taken over as the No. 1 netminder with the Griffins. But Cossa wasn’t even a consideration for the Wings.
“There was no thought or anything,” McLellan said.
So Cossa’s time with the Wings end with him having played 45 minutes of NHL hockey, all of which came in a relief performance on Dec. 9, 2024, at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo – the site where his trade to Utah was announced Friday.
The Wings have invested five years in his development.
“I think he definitely grew over the last couple of years of playing in Grand Rapids,” Draper said. “He some good games and he ended up being an American League All-Star in back-to-back seasons.
“It just ended up that it was something that didn’t quite work out for us. But when you select someone, you want to put him in the best situation. We were hoping that he was going to be able to become a Detroit Red Wing, but it’s professional sports. Sometimes those things don’t work out. In the end, that’s how it ended up happening with us.”
Contact Helene St. James at Hstjames@freepress.com. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Sebastian Cossa didn’t work out at goalie for Red Wings; here’s why
Reporting by Helene St. James, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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By Helene St. James, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
