GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — When the Grand Rapids Griffins take the ice at Van Andel Arena this upcoming season, the team is going to look a little different after trading one of their biggest players.
Both in size and potential.
Sebastian Cossa, The 6 foot 7 inch former first-round draft pick, was traded by the Griffins' parent club – the Detroit Red Wings - to Utah during this year’s NHL draft.
The Wings then used that pick to draft scoring prospect JP Hurlburt.
A move Red Wings beat writer with the Athletic, Max Bultman, told me unfolded because of the depth in the Griffins' goalie room.
“You know, they have significant depth in their goalie pipeline," said Max. "You saw Michal Postava start every playoff game for the Griffins this year. He's only like nine months older than Sebastian Cossa, so he had a great season. Trey Augustine, one of the top goaltenders in college hockey last year at Michigan State, he turned pro last year. Now Sebastian was the most advanced. He was going to need waivers if he was not going to be in the NHL next year.”
And from all accounts, an NHL appearance with the Wings from Cossa was not likely. Even with two AHL All-Star appearances and gaudy goaltending statistics, Detroit felt it was best to move on.
You’ll always be our favorite Big Fella 👊 pic.twitter.com/R5vdwVm8Zw
— Grand Rapids Griffins (@griffinshockey) June 27, 2026
“The one thing that I think, kind of remained a constant through his time in the organization was there were some consistency questions," Max said. "You know, going into the playoffs, I talked about how he lost his starting job to Michal Postava for the postseason, but if you look at really the six to eight weeks leading up to the playoffs, it was a struggle for Cosa, and so I think about that. I think about, you know, there was a kind of a tendency to let in some leaky goals. He could make the spectacular save, but sometimes one that you don't expect to get in would get by him.”
But even with the large departure, Max thinks the Griffins' goalie situation is still a big positive as we look forward to the upcoming season.
“I think this duo between Postava and Augustine, I think you could see both of them get 30-plus starts next season, potentially, and have, again, one of the better goaltending tandems in the American Hockey League,” Max added.
As for the other big storyline so far from this year's offseason, you can watch Max's explanation of the Dylan Larkin trade drama below.
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