Red Wings Prospect's Big Game Leads Norway Closer to Olympic Qualification

Detroit's 2024 first round pick Michael Brandsegg-Nygard led Norway to a win in its opening Olympic Qualification game against Japan. The way he did it should get fans of the Red Wings prospect excited for the future.

In a 4-2 win in Group F of the Olympic Winter Games Qualifiers, Brandsegg-Nygard scored a pair of goals while also controlling play on the backcheck. For a prospect whose upside is his almost immediate pro-readiness, this type of performance — albeit against a team much less skilled than most pro groups — is exactly the kind of game Brandsegg-Nygard plays at his best.

This whale of a game came at a slow burn at first. In the first period, Brandsegg-Nygard rang a pair of one-timers off the posts before dialing in his shot. Late in the second period, he scored his first goal off a left-circle one-timer to put Norway up 3-1.

Brandsegg-Nygard's one-timer is deadly, a big shot coaches and peers admire. But, it's not the only tool in his toolbelt. Coming out of the second intermission, he scored a quick snap shot from the slot for the 4-1 lead. This goal was as much a testament to his instincts to get open near the net as it was his overall shooting ability.

Brandsegg-Nygard's shot can take over an entire game. In a May interview with The Hockey News, his former Mora IK coach Daniel Hermansson recalled the first game Brandsegg-Nygard ever played with Mora — a debut he ushered in with a hat trick.

“It was the beginning of the season, so I didn’t really know how Michael should do in the league,” Hermansson told The Hockey News. “We hope of course that he should be good, but we didn't really know. Skelleftea was the better team, but he scored three goals. Those kind of quick release, great move kind of goals. That was the early memory from him, like oh my god that kid can play and he can shoot the puck.”

Needless to say, Japan probably thought the same thing after Thursday's game. They didn't have an answer for him.

A lot of Brandsegg-Nygard's hype comes from his ability to do the little things, too, like backchecking and crunching opponents. He did more than his fair share of that against Japan, but it's the way this came in tandem with his scoring that should be noticed. The goals show how balanced his game can be when it's on point. The key is to develop a measure of consistency.

There is a notable skill gap between the IIHF's 24th ranked Japan and 17th ranked Great Britain with whom the 12th ranked Norwegians share Group F. Denmark, ranked one spot higher at 11th, might present more of a challenge for the Norwegians and Brandsegg-Nygard.

With how he played against Japan and with more games against the British and the Danish, Brandsegg-Nygard is riding momentum into Red Wings training camp in mid-September. While he's signed to the Swedish Hockey League's Skelleftea next season (the same team as 2023 first round pick Axel Sandin Pellikka), Brandsegg-Nygard will attend camp with a chance to earn a spot on either the Red Wings or the Grand Rapids Griffins. The latter appears much more likely given the number of seasoned prospects ahead of him and a dearth of available roster spots. However, it's a testament to his NHL readiness that he's even getting an invite to training camp this early.

Before his next step in his hockey journey, Brandsegg-Nygard has more unfinished business at the Olympic Qualification tournament. If his team finishes on top, Norway's men's hockey team could end up back in the Olympics for the first time since 2018.

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