The Detroit Red Wings have reassigned top prospect Michael Brandsegg-Nygard to the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins. Brandsegg-Nygard played through the first nine games of his NHL career to start Detroit’s season. He recorded one assist, one penalty, and a minus-five through those appearances.
Brandsegg-Nygard’s first NHL sample was filled with up-and-down performances. Detroit was outscored one-to-six at even-strength when the Norwegian rookie was on the ice. At the same time, the Red Wings managed 5.06 expected-goals-for to only 2.78 expected-goals-against in Brandsegg-Nygard’s minutes. That difference not only gives Brandsegg-Nygard a Detroit-leading 64.5 expected goals-percentage (xGF%), it also gives him the eighth-worst goals-above-expected (-4.06) among NHL forwards.
Those numbers all suggest that Brandsegg-Nygard ran into a string of bad shooting luck to start his career. He’s long been a top prospect, and earned the 15th-overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft after potting 28 points in 53 games in Sweden’s second-tier pro league, the HockeyAllsvenskan. His imposing two-way presence helped Mora IK earn a promotion to the SHL for the 2024-25 season. Brandsegg-Nygard chipped in 17 points in 53 games at Sweden’s top level, before ending last season with the first five games, and three points, of his AHL career.
He earned a spot in the NHL out of training camp this season, and showed through an impressive ability to make plays even when shots weren’t going his way – emphasized by a team-leading 28 hits. An assignment to the AHL should give Brandsegg-Nygard a chance to rediscover his puck luck, but it’s hard to imagine Detroit will want him out of the lineup for too long.
Had to happen. He will be an impact guy in a year or two but he needs more seasoning. The potential is clearly there though. He had one assist, not one goal btw.
Long been a top prospect, guess one year is now a long time
He was the first Norwegian to be drafted in the first round! Certainly a top name in his age group for many years now.
And who are we going to put in his spot? Not a smart move in my opinion! Let the kid play!
Let him play in ahl. Thats what they did
At 20 years of age, getting 9 games in NHL is doing pretty well even if only one assist. If he is getting the feel of the NHL and can take that into AHL as a stepping stone, his next call up may be quite different.
Now, there is a mental trap here that he must overcome. That he has disappointed the NHL team which seeds doubt. That has to be put aside with renewed determination to take the next step in honing his skill and speed wherever they assign him. By example, Finnie has that “F’ em’ I’m coming to the NHL and no one is stopping me.”
Hard to describe this, perhaps its just down to stubborn determination and grit, but without it highly skilled players can just drift along at development plateaus in the minors their entire careers. Breaking out of your mental and physical comfort zones is worth the effort. Ask Finnie.