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Red Wings May Fast Track Brandsegg-Nygard to NHL

Norwegian first-round pick to attend Detroit training camp

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2 months ago

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Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, Red Wings
Red Wings 2024 first-round pick Michael Brandsegg-Nygard will attend training camp and could remain in North America.

The plan from the outset was that Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, the 2024 first-round draft pick of the Detroit Red Wings, would be playing next season with Swedish champions Skelleftea.

There, he’d be lining up alongside defenseman Axel Sandin Pellikka, a 2023 first-round choice of the Red Wings.

Plans, though, have a way of changing. And in the case of Brandsegg-Nygard, the wheels of change are already in motion.

The big Norwegian winger will begin working out with Skelleftea next month. Then in September, he will jet across the Atlantic Ocean, where he’ll take part in the Red Wings rookie camp and main training camp.

The Red Wings want me to come back to training camp to try to settle into a place on the team,” Brandsegg-Nygard told Norwegian website Nitten. “There may be AHL games with the Grand Rapids Griffins, but it is still a bit unclear. I just have to see what happens.”

Red Wings Recently Signed Brandsegg-Nygard

Certainly, the Red Wings were wasting little time in getting Brandsegg-Nygard’s name on an NHL entry-level contract, clearing the way for a potential landing spot in North America that might be coming sooner rather than later.

Brandsegg-Nygard was an impressive performer for Norway at the IIHF senior world tournament in the spring. However, he’s club hockey last season was played for Mora IK in the Allsvenskan, Sweden’s second division.

Going from that league into even the AHL seems like quite the leap. Even Brandsegg-Nygard is viewing the situation from that point of view.

“It is obviously very, very difficult,” Brandsegg-Nygard admitted. “I’m going to do everything I can, and everyone wants to play in the NHL, but it’s a very difficult goal now.

“I doubt it will happen.”

Skelleftea sports manager Eric Forssell told Swedish website Norran that it is up to the Red Wings where Brandsegg-Nyagrd, the 15th player chosen in the draft, will be playing his hockey during the 2024-25 season.

“They decide,” agreed Brandsegg-Nygard, “but they have said they won’t force me to do something I don’t want myself. Now I don’t really know. I have to take it as it comes.”

While hoping for the best, he’s maintaining the belief that Skelleftea will be his ultimate landing spot.

“Maybe that’s where I think I’ll play,” Brandsegg-Nygard said.

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