The Hockey News’s Connor Eargood wrote an article discussing the respective statuses of Marco Kasper, Carter Mazur, Nate Danielson and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard coming out of training camp. I want to spotlight his take on MBN, because it’s important to point out that it’s OKAY that MBN did not have a spectacular training camp:
It’s been an underwhelming camp for MBN, but that might be more so due to the image built up in others’ minds of what he should be than what Detroit expected. He’s an 18 year old in his first NHL camp, and even if he has pro elements to his game, there’s a lot of adjustment. Even communicating has been difficult.
“He still battles with the language barrier, which is real,” Lalonde said Sunday. “And I think North American hockey is a little bit of an adjustment, a little (less) time and space probably than he’s used to, but I thought he did very well and improved as the camp went on. Obviously, (he’ll) get some preseason games here. It’ll be important.”
Funny enough, the Norwegian-speaking Brandsegg-Nygard has had no problem communicating with Austrian-speaking linemate Kasper. Kasper told reporters Saturday that the two converse in Swedish as a connecting language. He also took the time to give a scouting report on Brandsegg-Nygard’s game, praising his shot and his offensive mind.
With teammates, many Swedish speakers, that barrier hasn’t been so pronounced. But you could see clear signs in Traverse City that MBN wasn’t understanding some practices and needed extra coaching. That isn’t a bad thing — it’s better he learns these things now than in the future, and this crash course of a training camp is helping him progress. Even before training camp, the Red Wings tempered expectations for their youngest quote-unquote hopeful.
“With Michael, we’re just gonna sit back and watch,” assistant general manager Kris Draper said during an intermission interview during the Red Wings’ first game against Dallas last week. “We’re gonna sit back, watch and evaluate, and give him a lot of opportunity to show what he can do. And then from there, you watch, you evaluate, and then you make decisions. But we’re not going to put any added pressure on him. It’s the same situation as a handful of our other first rounders that have kind of come through here and played up here. Just go out, do your best. We want you to compete. We want you to play hard. We want you to do what you do.”
Continued; it is entirely possible that MBN will impress once he gets his legs under him during the exhibition season, and it’s entirely possible that he will head back to Skelleftea AIK in Sweden a bit humbled, feeling like his tail is hanging between his legs because trying to make the NHL as an 18-year-old is so damn hard.
Either outcome–or anything in between–is okay. The Red Wings brought over Brandsegg-Nygard to attempt to acclimate him to the realities and challenges of North American hockey right off the bat, and exposing him to the tremendously high learning curve of an NHL training camp and grind of an NHL exhibition season will all be good for his development.
He remains one of the Wings’ brightest prospects, and none of that is going to change if he continues to struggle. He’s an 18-year-old Norwegian trying to wrap his head around the rigors of playing hockey in the best league in the world, coming from the Swedish second division, and that’s a huge jump on its own. Add in the language barrier, and it gets pretty complicated pretty quickly.
He’ll be fine, one way or another.
