The 2026 NHL Draft was already moving fast when the Detroit Red Wings and Utah Mammoth pulled off a trade that made people stop and check their phones. Sebastian Cossa, the goaltender the Red Wings took in the first round back in 2021, was heading to Utah. In return, Detroit got the 23rd overall pick. Straightforward on paper. But the story behind it is a lot more interesting than the transaction itself.
Cossa has played exactly one NHL game since being drafted. One. That’s not because he’s been bad in the AHL. He’s been pretty good, actually. For three straight seasons he’s been the full-time starter for Grand Rapids, posting a save percentage of .910 or better each year. This past season he went 26-8-4 with a .915 save percentage. The Griffins were the best team in the AHL for most of the regular season. But Detroit’s front office never looked at him and said, yeah, he’s ready for the NHL.
Even when Cam Talbot struggled as John Gibson’s backup, Cossa didn’t get the call. Michal Postava, a guy who came over from the Czech league last summer, got the emergency callups instead. That tells you everything about where Cossa stood in the organization’s eyes. The Red Wings have a deep goaltending pipeline, and they clearly didn’t trust Cossa enough to carve out a spot for him.
So the trade was predictable. Everyone around the league knew it was coming. The Red Wings used the 23rd pick to draft winger JP Hurlbert out of Kamloops, a guy with real top-six skill if he develops right. From a team-building perspective, it makes sense. Detroit traded from a strength — goaltending prospects — to address a need for high-end forward talent in the system. Steve Yzerman isn’t sentimental about these things. That’s why the Red Wings get a B+ here.
Utah is betting on potential, not production
The Mammoth made the playoffs in 2026 and look like a lock to do it again in 2027. They’ve been busy. They traded for Vincent Trocheck. They signed Anders Lee in free agency. Their roster is legit — Logan Cooley, Dylan Guenther, Clayton Keller up front, Mackenzie Weegar and Mikhail Sergachev on the blue line. But they didn’t have a clear No. 1 goalie.
Karel Vejmelka has been solid. Last season he posted 7.34 Goals Saved Above Expected and was worth nearly 4.5 wins above replacement, according to HockeyStats.com. Solid numbers, but he’s not a franchise goalie. And Utah doesn’t have one waiting in the wings. So they decided to take a swing on Cossa.
It’s not without risk. Cossa had consistency issues late in the season, and those problems got bad enough that Postava took over the starter’s role in the Calder Cup Playoffs. That’s not exactly the ringing endorsement you want for a guy you just traded a first-round pick for. But the upside is real. Cossa has the tools to be a franchise netminder. He just hasn’t put it together consistently yet.
The 23rd pick is a steep price for a goalie with one NHL game. But Utah is in win-now mode, and none of the goalies in this draft class were going to help them next season. Cossa can. The Mammoth can afford to take that kind of bet right now. That’s a B+ too, even if it looks a little different from Detroit’s side.
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