The Free Press’s Helene St. James discusses the Red Wings’ 2024 Summer Development Camp as a whole this morning, and she reveals an interesting fact about 2024 1st round draft pick Michael Brandsegg-Nygard:
“I learned his nickname is Taxi,” [Red Wings assistant director of player development Dan] Cleary said. “I thought that was a unique story.”
From what Cleary was told, Brandsegg-Nygård’s father’s family ran a taxi company back in Norway and his dad, Kjell Richard Nygård — who played in Norway’s top league and on the national team — would be dropped off at practices so often in a taxi that his teammates started calling him just that.
“When they saw his son, they said, ‘Little City Cab, Little Taxi,” Cleary said. “So I asked him, ‘Can I call you Taxi?’ He said, ‘Sure.’ So that’s going to be his nickname.”
Brandsegg-Nygård isn’t an economy-size taxi, though: At 18 years old, he’s already 6 foot 1 and 207 pounds.
“He’s going from Allsvenskan to the SHL, that’s a jump for sure,” Cleary said. “But with his size and his weight, he’ll be able to handle himself and protect himself in the corners, hang on to the puck a little better. I think the transition will be easier with him having a frame to him.”
Continued (paywall); Brandsegg-Nygard looked pretty big and strong during development camp, but he’s probably got another 5-10 pounds of muscle to add to his frame.
As St. James notes, MBN will need to acclimate to playing at the SHL level with Skelleftea AIK (Axel Sandin Pellikka’s team) as well, but it’s hard to imagine that he’s going to do anything less than excel.
