St. Louis’ Jonatan Berggren has been off to a hot start after being claimed off waivers from Detroit, and Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic published an article looking into the surge, and how sustainable it can be. The new Blue jumped right up to the team’s first line with Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich, posting four points in three games so far.
The Blues, with a forward core ravaged by injuries of late, would likely have been keen to add any NHL capable player from waivers. One such as Berggren was especially hard to pass up. After several years of lighting up the AHL but not quite putting it all together at the highest level, the 25-year-old became the latest former top prospect to hit the wire.
While many such players catch headlines, have some success early on, and eventually regress back to the mean, Berggren has caught high praise from Head Coach Jim Montgomery, and has a chance to have real success in a more low pressure environment for the time being. Interestingly in Rutherford’s article, an anonymous scout said his team also had interest in submitting a claim, as a player with valuable tools, who also had moments of being invisible.
Given the results so far, Berggren has likely found a home in St. Louis to finish the season at his $1.825MM cap hit. With pending restricted free agent status, he could become useful piece in their future as well if able to evolve his game a bit and strengthen ability in his own end.
Elsewhere across the league:
- Another figure could be joining the Sabres’ revamped front office, as Mike Harrington of Buffalo News Sports shared that Blue Jackets scouting director Ville Siren has generated a lot of “chatter” about rejoining new Buffalo GM Jarmo Kekäläinen. Siren was mentioned as a possible target of Kekäläinen just last week. The Finland native has been with Columbus since 2013, as well as nine seasons in St. Louis beforehand, where he played a large role in the team’s selection of longtime star Vladimir Tarasenko, among others. In Columbus, Siren has continuously stocked the small market team with young talent, most recently helping assemble a promising young core in the post-John Tortorella era. Nothing is set, as he remains firmly with Columbus, but Siren would be another notable addition to Kekäläinen’s brass as they look to turn things around in Buffalo.
- Pierre LeBrun published an article with The Athletic in which he discussed the Predators’ turnaround, staying calm despite rumors surrounding Head Coach Andrew Brunette as the season started to get off the rails. Winners of seven out of their last 10, Nashville is starting to find their game, and while fans may prefer the team go into a full rebuild route, veterans such as Ryan O’Reilly and Steven Stamkos are naturally intent on winning. As a former coach himself, Trotz has continuously stressed the importance of culture to develop young players. Even if veterans such as Stamkos or Jonathan Marchessault could still be shipped out in 2026, it is hard to imagine Trotz will want his group to totally bottom out, especially as long as Juuse Saros stands in net. Nashville will have a big opportunity tomorrow against Minnesota to prove they have turned the page and maybe push for a Wild Card berth.
Not to pour cold water on the Preds “surge”, but 5 of those wins were against the Blues (twice), Flames, Maple Loafs and Rangers. Plus, 22 of the 35 GP have been at home, which is going to lead to a brutal second half schedule.
The good news for the Preds is that there’s alot of mediocre teams in the west once you get past the top 5 or 6 teams, so they could remain in the playoff hunt.