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Sebastian Cossa, Grand Rapids Griffins (Jonathan Kozub / Manitoba Moose)

Red Wings: 3 Prospects Entering Critical 2025-26 Season

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers | By Devin Little | Last updated Jul 14, 2025 11:45 AM ET

With the Detroit Red Wings in the midst of a relatively muted offseason, focus seems to be shifting towards the organization’s prospects and young players. After making a few solid, but unspectacular additions in the free agent market, it appears the team’s best hope for progress is growth from within.

Some of the Red Wings’ young players have already established themselves as NHL talent, and now the question is how high their individual ceilings are. Their prospects, scattered throughout several leagues in North America and Europe (and parts of Russia), all offer various levels of upside and impact. Some of these prospects are in the early stages of their development and still have years of runway to develop into the players they were drafted to become.

Other prospects, however, are at a critical stage of their development for one reason or another. The prospects listed here are entering a 2025-26 season that may very well dictate which direction their NHL ambitions are headed. While they don’t need to become bona fide NHLers by the Spring of 2026, stagnation or regression is almost completely off the table.

(D) William Wallinder

Last season, the Red Wings welcomed 2019 second round pick Albert Johansson to the NHL on a full-time basis. While his developmental path was a long and winding one, he looked pretty good once he arrived. He played significant minutes on Detroit’s second defensive pairing with Simon Edvinsson, earning himself a two-year contract extension before he could hit restricted free agency (RFA).

There are whispers of hope that 2025-26 could be the year the Red Wings welcome 2020 second round pick William Wallinder into the fold. The Swedish defenseman was selected 32nd overall in that year’s draft, a selection that would have been in the first round if he had been selected a year later. He is set to embark on his third full season in North America, and he is looking to build on receiving his first NHL call-up last season.

At his best, Wallinder is puck-moving defenseman that impacts the game by keeping the puck moving in the right direction. He is adequate defensively, and there was some hope that his offensive game would take a step forward last season when he assumed some of the offensive minutes in the American Hockey League (AHL) Edvinsson vacated when he joined the Red Wings. Wallinder didn’t play during his brief stint in Detroit, but it had to feel like a vote of confidence from the organization.

The Red Wings’ defense could use another injection of talent. If that injection comes from Wallinder taking a meaningful step forward in his development, the left side of Detroit’s blue line could be young and talented for years to come. He will be a RFA at the end of this season, and with all of the defenseman permeating throughout the Red Wings’ system, he’ll need to give the organization good reason to continue investing resources into his development.

(F) Dylan James

Another second round selection, this time in the 2022 draft, Dylan James is set to begin his Senior season at the University of North Dakota in 2025-26. Drafted 40th overall, the young winger has slowly developed his game at one of the elite programs in college hockey, and that slow, steady development is polishing him into a very intriguing prospect.

More praise from North Dakota Coach Brad Berry on Dylan James(2nd round’22 for North Dakota) ahead of this weekends series against Denver. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/kyEP7MCCJq
— Red Wings Prospects (@LGRWProspects) February 14, 2025

James has always had good speed and compete, but he seemed to figure out how to translate those qualities into a higher level of production in his Junior season. There may not be a more competitive area of Detroit’s prospect pool than on the wing, so it is not enough to have a couple of good qualities without being able to make an impact. If he stays on his current trajactory, he will make a big impact for the North Dakota Fighting Hawks.

The big thing facing James this season is that the Red Wings will lose their rights to him if they do not sign him to an entry-level contract within the next year. While there’s no reason to believe he will hold out and has no interest in signing with Detroit, this is that critical moment in a collegiate hockey player’s career where the next stage of their development takes shape. If all goes well, he should be a late-season reinforcement for the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins; if things go really well, he may even be a source of speed and energy that could help the Red Wings down the stretch.

(G) Sebastian Cossa

Drafted 15th overall back in 2021, there was pressure on Sebastian Cossa from the moment the Red Wings traded up from 23rd overall to make him the first goalie off the board. Most of the chatter over his first couple of seasons was about the choice to take Cossa over Swedish goaltender Jesper Wallstedt (the consensus best goalie in the draft at the time), but the conversation has since shifted towards Cossa’s developmental timeline as well as the fact the Dallas Stars took center Wyatt Johnston with the 23rd pick.

Cossa recently completed his second full season in the AHL. Through his two years as the “1A” in Grand Rapids, he has a 43-24-15 record, a 2.43 goals-against average, and a .912 save-percentage. While those are undoubtedly good numbers, they hardly scream dominance – especially when you consider that his stat lines from his first and second seasons with the Griffins are nearly identical. From a statistical standpoint, the 22-year-old has plateued. However, there is a little more nuance to this conversation as his numbers do not totally define his development.

Sebastian Cossa, Grand Rapids Griffins (Jonathan Kozub / Manitoba Moose)

On one hand, Cossa’s steadiness and confidence in the crease is miles ahead of where it was even just a year ago. He has always been a more aggressive goaltender, but he has learned to harnass that aggression while maintaining good positioning. When he’s on his game, he has a certain swagger that permiates throughout the rest of the team.

When he’s off his game, however, it very seriously sinks the whole team. When the Griffins were swept out of their first round playoff series against the Texas Stars this past season, Cossa was pulled in the first game, didn’t start the second game, and then wasn’t enough of a difference in the third game to stave off elimination.

Like Wallinder, Cossa will be a RFA at the end of this season. While he likely isn’t in danger of Detroit moving on from him entirely, his hold on the title of the Red Wings’ “goalie of the future” is slipping. With Trey Augustine and Michal Postava in the system, among others, Cossa doesn’t have a monopoly on potential at the goaltending position anymore. Cossa did make his NHL debut this past season, recording a win against the Buffalo Sabres in relief of Ville Husso, but this is the season he needs to show he can be more than just a solid starter at the AHL level.

Which Red Wings prospects will you have a close eye on this season? Leave us a comment to let us know!