The Detroit Red Wings have long made it clear that they will opt for patience over the here-and-now with their prospects.
Going back to the days when Ken Holland ran the Red Wings, the organization made it a point to rely heavily on the Grand Rapids Griffins to nurture and develop young talent before bringing it to Detroit. The list of Grand Rapids alumni who went on to significant careers in Detroit and elsewhere is a lengthy one. That philosophy has continued – and probably then some – with executive vice president and general manager Steve Yzerman since he came back to the organization in 2019.
Top prospect Michael Brandsegg-Nygård came to training camp this fall and tested the Red Wings on that philosophy, though. Taken by Detroit as the 15th pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, the forward won a job coming out of training camp having spent just one season in the Swedish Hockey League (along with a quick stint in Grand Rapids).
2025 Grand Rapids Griffins vs Iowa Wild
Brandsegg-Nygård went on to play Detroit’s first nine games. Coming into this season, a prevailing narrative around the team was that this season needed to show some significant progress. Yzerman is six years into this rebuilding process, and Detroit has not qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2016. The Red Wings are off to a solid 6-3-0-0 start, though they did drop road decisions to the Buffalo Sabres and New York Islanders last week. They also have a five-game road trip that starts Tuesday night in St. Louis before taking the team on to the West Coast.
But Brandsegg-Nygård needs to play. He has averaged 12:27 per game with Detroit, but his workload dipped to just 6:37 this past Saturday night in a 6-4 home win against St. Louis that featured just one third-period shift for him.
So on Monday the Red Wings shipped Brandsegg-Nygård to the Griffins.
Grand Rapids will not be a completely new stop for the 20-year-old. He played two games at the end of the regular season last April before appearing in three Calder Cup Playoff contests. He ended up notching a pair of goals and an assist in those three postseason outings before going on to represent Norway at the IIHF World Championship. That work capped a season in which he had played 42 regular-season games in the SHL with Skellefteå, posting 5-6-11, and then appeared in 11 playoff games.
He is also going into a positive environment with Grand Rapids, where the team is off to a 5-0-0-0 start. Brandsegg-Nygård is the second Detroit top prospect to be sent to the Griffins in the past week. Forward Nate Danielson, who went ninth overall to Detroit in 2023, was sent to Grand Rapids last Friday. He had a pair of assists in his Griffins season debut last Friday in a 4-0 home win against the Manitoba Moose.
The Griffins are back in action Tuesday night when they visit the Iowa Wild. A home-and-home series with the Rockford IceHogs will follow this Saturday and Sunday.
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