Before the 2025-26 season with the Griffins, Sebastian Cossa had three shutouts.
This year, he's had five.
Carrying the Grand Rapids Griffins to a 39-7-2-1 record this year and owning a .930 sv%, his goals against has dropped to 1.92 from 2.45 the previous year and the 6'6" netminder has managed to reign in some of the wild tendencies that take him out of position in the crease this year.
However, even in his best year with the organization, the former no. 15 overall pick from the 2021 draft still hasn't been called to play with the main club in Detroit.
Two Cars in Front
If John Gibson hadn't recovered to have as excellent a year as he currently is and putting the Red Wings in contention for a playoff spot, Cossa certainly would have been called up to get some looks early in this season. After starting 4-7-1 many Red Wings fans were wondering why Steve Yzerman had continued the cycle of musical chairs with his goalies by trading for Gibson in the offseason.
Things weren't helped by Cossa and Michal Postava keeping the Griffins undefeated until early November, when both minor league netminders were briefly sidelined with injuries. However, beginning about two months ago, the former Anaheim Duck has reversed course and put the bad vibes in the rear view. He's been 18-5-1 since the beginning of December.
Detroit's other goalie, Cam Talbot, meanwhile, has been deployed only sparingly to start since Gibson got hot. Talbot, 38, seemingly has taken a step back after a strong start to the season that kept the Red Wings in contention night to night while Gibson got acclimated in Detroit. He's been winless in regulation since December, and is posting some of the worst numbers of his career. The X year veteran is 11-7-4, and has appeared in only four games since the start of the new year.
However, given his resume and playoff experience, the Red Wings have seemingly been willing to give him an extended leash. Perhaps they also have the hope that the extended Olympic break this month helps Talbot to recover some of the form he's shown while wearing the Winged Wheel.
The problem at the moment, is that the Red Wings don't have a pathway to give Cossa meaningful or consistent starts. Calling him up would mean putting him at the very least behind Gibson, who is tracking towards playing near his career high of 60 games this year. Putting him in once or twice every two weeks wouldn't benefit Cossa in much of any way.
That disruption in Cossa's rhythm may cause his development to stall out at this point, and he's at perhaps the most crucial moment of his career as he tries to show to the Red Wings' top brass that he's outgrown the AHL.