NHL.com’s Dave Hogg posted a profile of Red Wings 2024 1st-round draft pick and recent signing Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, who’s now the first of two Norwegian-born prospects drafted in the first round (alongside his best hockey pal, Anaheim draft pick Stian Solberg):
“It has been a dream for so long,” Brandsegg-Nygard, who was born in Oslo, told the Red Wings website at the draft. “Now I am living the dream, so I’m just going to work hard, do what I always do and hopefully I’m going to be an NHL player someday.”
Detroit believes it has a player who can help at both ends of the ice.
“I think he plays a pretty responsible game for a young guy,” Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman said. “When we all played junior, we worried about scoring. We didn’t check. He’s just got a really well-rounded game to him. I just think he’s a guy who could play in all situations. He can play either wing, a lot of different spots on the power play.”
Brandsegg-Nygard played against men as an 18-year-old last season with Mora IK in Sweden’s second-highest professional league, with 18 points (eight goals, 10 assists) in 41 games. He picked up his game in the playoffs, with 10 points (four goals, six assists) in 12 games.
“I like his game,” Detroit director of player development Dan Cleary said during Red Wings development camp earlier this month. “Watching him play, you can see he’s strong, protecting the puck, he can shoot it very well.”
Cleary sent Brandsegg-Nygard back to Sweden with some specific things to work on this season.
“Like every young kid, we look at their testing, they’ve got to get stronger, which they will as they get older and more mature. His skating, he knows he’s got to work on it. He’s driven to work on it. Those are the ones that will get better.”
Continued; as we know now, the Red Wings signed MBN to ensure that he’ll play where the Red Wings want him to play, be that with Skelleftea AIK or Grand Rapids this upcoming season–and he’ll attend training camp, as he told Nitten.no’s Wegard Bakkehaug recently.
