Red Wings prospect Jonatan Berggren had a big season with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins, and the 5’11,” 194-pound center/wing, who’s 22 years old as of last Saturday, is profiled by Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff this evening:
His first season in North American couldn’t have gone much better for Jonatan Berggren. Performing for Detroit’s top farm club the Grand Rapids Griffins, Berggren finished 12th in the American League scoring race with 21 goals and 43 assists for 64 points. That established a new Griffins’ record for points by a rookie. Berggren was the AHL’s second-highest rookie scorer, trailing only Buffalo Sabres JJ Peterka (28 goals, 68 points).
He ended the season with an 11-game point streak. Berggren registered points in 15 of his last 18 games. In those 15 games, Berggren boasted 10 multi-point games.
“We’re very pleased with the season that Jonatan had,” Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman said. “As an adjustment coming to play in the American Hockey Legue versus the Swedish Elite League that he played in, there’s areas of his game that we asked him to focus on and try to improve on and he did that.
“We’re very happy with his progress.”
Continued; as Duff suggests, Berggren may not make the Red Wings’ roster out of training camp, but he’s a fine prospect who should slot into the second line in the not-too-distant future.
