Red Wings director of European Scouting Hakan Andersson spoke with HockeySverige.se’s Uffe Bodin regarding what the Red Wings might expect from free agent signing Mathias Brome this year, and Andersson also discusses Jonatan Berggren’s successes this season with Skelleftea AIK. What follows is roughly translated from Swedish:
“Do we have ten forwards who are better than him?”
Yesterday, the Detroit Red Wings started their training camp ahead of the upcoming NHL season. Among the players fighting for a spot during camp is Mathias Brome. Detroit scout Hakan Andersson believes that he has a good chance of becoming an NHL player this season.
“He has the work ethic and intensity to play in the NHL, so I feel he has a good chance,” Andersson says to Hockeysverige.se.
After a week in quarantine, Mathias Brome was able to leave his hotel room in Detroit on Tuesday. On Thursday, the former Orebro forward’s NHL adventure began in earnest when the Detroit Red Wings started their training camp before the start of the NHL season on January 13th.
Brome has come to the U.S.A. with a strong autumn in the SHL behind him. He scored 20 points (4 + 16) in 23 games, and was once again one of Orebro’s leading players. Going over with that in his arsenal was something that the 26-year-old felt was a strength before leaving.
“It will be a great advantage that I come in and have played games and have game tempo in me, and also that I have had real training. It’s a big advantage. I will do everything in my power to try and take a spot so I can see how far it goes,” he told Hockeysverige.se in early December.
SIMILAR TO POWER FORWARD
Mathias Brome joins the NHL as an unrestricted free agent. The Red Wings snagged him this spring after his big breakthrough season in the SHL. Hakan Andersson, who is the European director of scouting for the NHL team, did not have much to do with the recruitment itself, but he helped guide his colleagues, who have the task of scouting older players rather than young, draftable assets.
“They came and asked me and my colleague Thomas Carlsson who we thought they should look at. Then Brome’s name came up together with, among others, Frederik Handemark (San Jose) and a few others. Since then, they did a lot of watching and were the ones who made the decision. I had a conversation with Steve Yzerman (General Manager) last season where he asked how much I’d seen and what I thought of him,” Andersson says.
“I said that I liked what I’d seen of him. Apart from the fact that he doesn’t slam in the close games, he’s like Tyler Bertuzzi with us, a damn skilled passing player who is difficult to take the puck away from even though he’s not that big. He can both shoot and pass, so he’s not one-dimensional.”
“CHOSE US THAT THERE WAS A CHANCE”
How do you see his chances of playing NHL hockey this season?
“What I like is that he himself has said that he will hang in until he makes it. I think he has qualities that make him NHL-wise. He has the work ethic and intensity to play in the NHL, so I feel he has a good chance. Then a lot is up to him, how stubborn he is. He is a player who is perfect when you want a little depth among forwards, so it’s important that he can show he can handle the role he is given,” says Hakan Andersson, who continues:
“I think he chose us because he felt there was a chance to compete for a serious spot. It’s not a 13th forward, but here he can play if he performs.”
How much of an advantage can he have from having been playing all season, and playing games here at home while many of the other players haven’t been going since March?
“I think that it’s a small advantage that he’s played, definitely. But it’s new to him with the small rinks, and he’ll have to learn to handle it. But I think that he has such a style of play that he has no problem playing in traffic, so I’m not worried about that. He naturally goes for goals and all that stuff.”
“I’ll say this: if we have ten forwards who are better than him, then it starts to look fun. Right now, I’m not sure we have that. He has a reasonable chance of playing.
IMPRESSED BY JONATAN BERGGREN
The Detroit Red Wings had no less than five drafted players on the Swedish WJC team–Gustav Berglund, Albert Johansson, Lucas Raymond, Theodor Niederbach and Elmer Soderblom–and they could have had two more had William Wallinder and Albin Grewe not been stopped by covid-19.
But the Detroit-drafted player who’s made the most of himself in the SHL in 20-21 is a first-year senior.
Skelleftea AIK’s Jonatan Berggren has scored 24 points in 25 games and has found himself among the top of the SHL’s points. Hakan Andersson likes what the 20-year-old has shown after two straight seasons marked by injury problems.
“You have to be impressed by how he has fought back, that he did rehab training and is this good. In my world, it’s a sign of strength,” praises the scout.
“It was fun to hear (national team coach Johan) Garpenlov talk about him. After the first tournament (the Karjala Cup in November), it was a bit, “Nah, he has a lot to work on, that guy,” but after the second (the Channel One Cup), he thought he looked much better. It’s a lot of fun, too, because it means that Berggren is hungry and wants to move on as well.”
However, Hakan Andersson, who celebrated 30 years as an NHL scout in 2020, does not want to float away.
“I’ve become so hardened over the years that only when they are over there and add something in Little Caesars Arena, then I am happy,” he laughs.
I enjoy reading what Hakan has to say. Hope we get more Hakans!