Michael Brandsegg-Nygard has his eyes set on Detroit - and not just for a visit. For the 2024 first-round pick, the Motor City isn’t just a destination, it’s the dream. And while he's currently sharpening his game in Grand Rapids, there's no mistaking where he wants to be.
“Of course, I’m gonna think about getting called up,” Brandsegg-Nygard said recently. “It’s my dream, and I wanna play in Detroit, but I mean, I’m happy here, too. I have a lot of good guys to learn from here.”
And that’s the key right now - learning. This is Brandsegg-Nygard’s first full season in North America, and it’s all about adjusting to the nuances of the North American game. The smaller rinks, the tighter spaces, the faster decisions - it’s a different beast than what he saw overseas.
“Just learning how the American hockey works,” he said. “And I feel like I’m just getting used to it being tighter in the smaller space, too.”
That transition hasn’t come without its growing pains. After starting the season with a nine-game stint in Detroit, where he recorded just one assist and finished minus-five, the Red Wings reassigned him to the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins.
But the move wasn’t a setback - it was a step in the process. A chance to get minutes, make mistakes, and grow.
And grow he has.
Through 43 games with the Griffins, Brandsegg-Nygard has posted 8 goals and 18 assists - solid numbers for a 20-year-old winger getting his first true taste of the North American grind. But the stats only tell part of the story. What’s really standing out is the physical edge he’s bringing to the ice.
At 6-foot-1 and 204 pounds, Brandsegg-Nygard isn’t shy about using his frame. In his short NHL stint, he registered 28 hits in just nine games. That’s an eye-popping rate of nearly 15 hits per 60 minutes - the kind of physicality that immediately grabs the attention of coaches and front offices alike.
“He’s a physical player, which is great,” said Griffins head coach Dan Watson. “It’s getting used to North American hockey, which he has.”
But Watson knows Brandsegg-Nygard isn’t just a wrecking ball. There’s more to his game than just hits and hustle.
He’s got a heavy, accurate shot and a release that can catch goalies flat-footed. The challenge now is getting him into the right areas more consistently - the soft spots in coverage, the greasy areas around the net - where he can let that shot do some damage.
“It’s about him getting into spots where he can shoot it a little bit more, be around the net a little bit more, and have the ability to make plays,” Watson said. “And I just think the pace of the game is picking up. So I’m excited to see the pace of his own game pick up because that’s what’s going to happen in the second half.”
That’s the next step in Brandsegg-Nygard’s development - matching the pace of the game shift after shift, night after night. The tools are there.
The size, the shot, the edge - it’s all in the toolbox. What comes next is putting it all together.
“He’s a mature player already,” Watson added. “He’s got all the tools to be a really good NHLer. It’s just putting it all together consistently every game.”
For now, Brandsegg-Nygard is doing exactly what he needs to: learning, adapting, and making his presence felt. And if he keeps trending the way he is, that dream of lighting it up in Detroit might not be so far off.