The Detroit Red Wings have reassigned top prospect Michael Brandsegg-Nygard to the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins. Brandsegg-Nygard played through the first nine games of his NHL career to start Detroit’s season. He recorded one assist, one penalty, and a minus-five through those appearances.
Brandsegg-Nygard’s first NHL sample was filled with up-and-down performances. Detroit was outscored one-to-six at even-strength when the Norwegian rookie was on the ice. At the same time, the Red Wings managed 5.06 expected-goals-for to only 2.78 expected-goals-against in Brandsegg-Nygard’s minutes. That difference not only gives Brandsegg-Nygard a Detroit-leading 64.5 expected goals-percentage (xGF%), it also gives him the eighth-worst goals-above-expected (-4.06) among NHL forwards.
Those numbers all suggest that Brandsegg-Nygard ran into a string of bad shooting luck to start his career. He’s long been a top prospect, and earned the 15th-overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft after potting 28 points in 53 games in Sweden’s second-tier pro league, the HockeyAllsvenskan. His imposing two-way presence helped Mora IK earn a promotion to the SHL for the 2024-25 season. Brandsegg-Nygard chipped in 17 points in 53 games at Sweden’s top level, before ending last season with the first five games, and three points, of his AHL career.
He earned a spot in the NHL out of training camp this season, and showed through an impressive ability to make plays even when shots weren’t going his way – emphasized by a team-leading 28 hits. An assignment to the AHL should give Brandsegg-Nygard a chance to rediscover his puck luck, but it’s hard to imagine Detroit will want him out of the lineup for too long.