The Olympics is a goal

Two kilos more! Kasper toils for the NHL dream

NHL talent Marco Kasper puts the pedal to the metal in the KAC youth club's weight room.

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Marco Kasper played one NHL game for the Detroit Red Wings in April 2023, but he spent the pre-season with the Grand Rapids Griffins farm team. The 20-year-old is training hard to be able to show off at the Detroit camps from September - and has already put on two kilos. Before that comes the Olympic qualifiers with Austria.

"I have to become a man to be able to hold my own in the NHL," says top ice hockey talent Marco Kasper. That's why the 20-year-old worked so hard over the summer - and put on two kilos of muscle mass compared to last year. At 1.86 meters tall, he now weighs almost 91 kilograms. "That's really important for the duels and the bullies - you have to be in top physical shape," emphasizes the Klagenfurt native, who got better and better in the American Hockey League with the Grand Rapids Griffins over the course of the season.

Marco Kasper in the jersey of the Austrian national team.

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Going to camp in September
In September, the Klagenfurt native wants to present himself again at the NHL camp with his Detroit Red Wings - and of course grab a spot in the lineup: "We have so many strong players in the extended squad, the quality at Detroit is really amazing! I have to fight for a spot in the camps and give it my all."

We have so many strong players in Detroit's extended squad - I have to fight for the spot and give my all in the camps.

Eishockey-Stürmer Marco Kasper

Detroit's training plans
That's why he's also working hard in the summer and has received training plans from his NHL team. "I'm allowed to train in the KAC's weight room, and I'm already skating in the Heidi Horten Arena. It's really cool that the arena was ready so early this season," says Marco, who naturally meets up with his childhood buddies like Fabian Hochegger, Finn van Ee and David Maier at the Red Jackets: "It's also a lot of fun with the guys."

Kasper was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in July 2022.

(Bild: AP)

In Slovakia for the Olympics
Before heading back to North America in September, the center still has one big goal: He wants to qualify for the Olympics with Austria in Slovakia from 29 August to 1 September against the favored hosts, Kazakhstan and Hungary: "The plan is that I'll be able to help there - I haven't heard anything to the contrary from my club Detroit so far. It doesn't coincide with the NHL camps."