Marco Kasper played about as well as he could to prove he’s NHL ready in the preseason. He tested persistently, converted penalties like a veteran and nearly scored a hat trick in the two-goal game against Ottawa on Friday night.

And yet Detroit sent Kasper to Grand Rapids on Sunday afternoon.

On the surface, this move appears to be another case of Detroit overhyping their talents before promoting them to the NHL, as was the case last season when Simon Edvinsson was outstanding in the preseason only to be left out for most of the season AHL to spend. But in this case, Kasper may not actually spend the season in Grand Rapids. He may just have to wait for a deal to be completed off the ice.

Detroit currently has 28 players on its preseason roster, five of which will be sent to the AHL once waivers are cleared. Among the other 23, the Red Wings’ strong striker Austin Watson is still in the professional trial phase and an NHL contract is likely to follow.

There’s just one problem: Detroit doesn’t have enough cap space to sign Watson – at least not yet.

To free up cap space, the Red Wings will have to wait for the players they placed on waivers to become available, including Justin Holl. The 32-year-old blueliner is making an average of $3.4 million per year but was claimed off waivers due to a stint in Grand Rapids on Sunday afternoon. The Red Wings still have to pay Holl his contract, but not the entire amount will count against the cap. Detroit can deduct $1.15 million from Holl’s cap hit. That turns Detroit’s potential cap space of $198,194 into $1,348,194.

That $1.3 million should be more than enough cap space to sign Watson to a contract. This is the next step in Detroit’s preseason roster moves.

But once Watson signs, things could get interesting. The Red Wings can’t send Watson to Grand Rapids while he’s on a PTO, but they can do so once he signs a real contract. In the realm of speculation, Detroit could send Watson down to call up Kasper.

All of this means that Kasper would actually have earned a spot on the squad coming out of training camp. However, since he is exempt from waivers, it is easier for Detroit to move him down to allow time and space to sign Watson to the 23rd roster spot. Kasper’s AHL stint might just be about the business side of the sport needing to meet the needs on the ice.

There’s no guarantee that Detroit will pursue all of these options – these are all speculation, so put as much emphasis on them as you like. But such opportunities are another example of why one needs to be patient when assessing initial squad changes. At such a chaotic time of year, general managers must take a number of measures to ensure cap and roster compliance. Sometimes these lead to complicated situations.

If not, Kasper’s NHL readiness indicates a call-up would likely happen soon. Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde emphasized that observers shouldn’t look too far into the opening night lineup because so much can change in a season.

“Grand Rapids is two hours away. By Christmas we will have played 33 players,” said Lalonde. “Maybe it’s a bit old-fashioned. Maybe it was there 20, 25 years ago – with you.” made The team on the first day. In reality we will probably have 15 forwards and 10 Ds playing for us and making up our team, so it will be very interesting to see how it turns out over the next few weeks.”

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