Marco Rossi starts new NHL season – Marco Kasper begins with the Grand Rapids Griffins in the AHL

The NHL officially opened the new season with two NHL Global Series 2024 games in Prague last weekend, with the New Jersey Devils winning twice – 4:1 and 3:1 – against the Buffalo Sabres. Things really get under way in North America this week. ÖEHV forward Marco Rossi will be involved when the Minnesota Wild face the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night into Friday in his moment of truth. 

The 23-year-old delivered strong performances in the pre-season and was deployed by head coach John Hynes at centre, including on the top line alongside Kirill Kaprizow and Mats Zuccarello against the Chicago Blackhawks. In that final pre-season game against the Blackhawks, Rossi scored the 1:0 on the power play before adding an assist later on. 

The Vorarlberg native, who provided one of several World Championship highlights in Austrian and international ice hockey in May by levelling at 6:6 against Canada with 49 seconds remaining after Austria had trailed 1:6, recorded five points in total during the pre-season (2 goals, 3 assists) and showed his early-season form. 

Rossi collected 40 points (21 goals, 19 assists) in 82 games last season and was selected by the "Professional Hockey Writers Association" for its line-up of the five best rookies. Rossi has played 103 NHL games in total heading into the new season. 

Marco Kasper begins season with the Grand Rapids Griffins in the AHL

Marco Kasper will, meanwhile, have to wait a little longer for his definitive breakthrough in the world's best ice hockey league: the Detroit Red Wings trimmed their roster to 28 players on Sunday and assigned the Carinthian to their farm team, the Grand Rapids Griffins in the AHL. 

The 20-year-old, who prepared intensively for his new tasks in his home city of Klagenfurt over the summer and bolstered Austria at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Bratislava in late August/early September, impressed for the Red Wings in the penultimate pre-season game, scoring two superb goals in the first period against the Ottawa Senators. 

Kasper also registered an assist against the Chicago Blackhawks at the end of September. Marco Kasper has already played one NHL game: on his debut against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2022/2023 season, on 2 April 2023, he spent 14:59 on the ice. The centre suffered a fractured kneecap during that game but played the match to the end. 

Austria's third NHL prospect, David Reinbacher, was extremely unfortunate. The Vorarlberg native, who like Kasper put in a very good performance for Austria at the Olympic qualifying tournament in the Slovak capital, suffered a serious knee injury just seconds into the first shift of a pre-season game for his Montréal Canadiens against the Toronto Maple Leafs and will be out for five to six months.

All information on the official NHL website