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I would say all of the above. I think the knee injury genuinely affected his play. He had the same injury as Rasmussen had, and with both players it seemed to take them a while to get back up to speed and play as strongly as they had the year before. That's likely because they didn't have an offseason to train and get stronger and all that. But I also think that Kasper is realizing that playing an abrasive/gritty/direct style is his ticket to success in NA. At the beginning of the season (and back as far as the prospects tournament) he was trying to be very cute with his offense (e.g. trying the Michigan, toe-drags, between the legs, etc.). I think he heard the criticisms of his offensive upside and wanted to show that he was a slick, skilled, player too. But ultimately that's not what is going to make him successful in NA. He's going to be successful playing like Larkin, not playing like Elias Pettersson. Finally, I think coaching played a really big part in his output as well. Dan Watson is a new coach at the AHL level and when he took over the team he seemed to be relying on his veteran AHL players to do the heavy lifting. Trouble was, some of those guys weren't shouldering that responsibility well (Hirose, L'Esperance, Gettinger) and some were in and out of the lineup (Czarnik and Berggren). This pretty much explains why GR sucked to begin the season. Once Watson got more comfortable with the team he started plugging some of the younger guys into those bigger roles. Kasper, for instance, went from a 4C to a 2C and also started getting powerplay time with the top unit. The corresponding increases in prime ice-time and the quality of his linemates led to increased offensive output. But had he not already had the physical tools, as well as the defensive responsibility, to succeed in that role it wouldn't have worked. Watson tried Lombardi as the 2C for a time and it really didn't work because he's not reliable defensively nor is he physically strong enough to handle those types of minutes (yet). The last thing I'd mention is fan expectations. The only two 19 year olds I can remember making the Red Wings (in the current era) were Larkin and Raymond. Before that it had been forever since we'd had anyone do that. Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Kronwall, Tatar, Nyquist, Franzen - you name it. Most of our top end talent didn't even sniff the NHL at 19. But because we had two guys do it in relatively short order I think some folks began to consider that the standard, as opposed to the exception. Kasper is a very young player, playing a very difficult position, in a very difficult league. Every indication was that he'd be able to handle the assignment, and even excel. But it was always going to take longer than a year. And I'm thankful for that because I've seen too many promising players get ruined because their teams thought it was a good idea to put an 18-19 year old in the NHL and their development basically stalled as soon as it happened (Buffalo is famous for this).

Prices are pretty high at the moment. 1st for Monahan is absolutely insane. If these are the going rates we should be looking to trade any non-essential parts of the team (i.e. Gostisbehere, Fabbri, Veleno).

As of today money puck gives us exactly 50.3% chance of making the playoffs. Our chances have definitely improved, but it's still borderline, and we have to maintain this pace if we want to get there. Adding at the TDL will help, but boy it would suck to add and miss...

And a robbery if he doesnt re-sign.