Brandsegg-Nygard ignites Griffins' historic season, revealing playoff mindset and career-best scoring surge. He details his simple, effective approach to success.
The Detroit Red Wings prospect pipeline has produced several bright spots this season, and few have stood out more than forward Michael Brandsegg-Nygard with the Grand Rapids Griffins.
The 20-year-old Norwegian winger has been outstanding in his first full professional season in North America. Through 49 games, Brandsegg-Nygard has recorded 16 goals and 21 assists for 37 points, emerging as one of the Griffins’ most dangerous offensive players.
His production has surged recently. Brandsegg-Nygard is coming off back-to-back three-point performances and has totaled eight goals and five assists for 13 points over his last 10 games, playing a major role in the Griffins’ strong run down the stretch.
In an exclusive interview with The Hockey News, Brandsegg-Nygard said his recent success comes from focusing on simple offensive habits.
“Well for me, it’s just kind of trying to get the puck on net more, and just trying to be around there,” Brandsegg-Nygard said. “Every game I feel like I have a lot of chances and stuff, it’s just the puck has to bounce my way.”
His emergence has helped fuel one of the most dominant seasons in American Hockey League history. Grand Rapids currently holds a 42-8-3-1 record and has already set several league marks, including the best records through 20, 35, 40 and 50 games in the American Hockey League’s 90-year history.
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The Griffins did hit a rough patch in mid-January, dropping six of nine games, but the team quickly recovered. Since then, Grand Rapids has won 10 of its last 13 contests. Brandsegg-Nygard credited the turnaround to the team refocusing on the identity that drove their early success.
“We got back to our identity, to play hard, to play good as a team,” he said. “It’s a long season. You’re obviously going to have a period where not everything is going your way, but I feel like we did a good job to get back to it quick.”
Despite the historic pace and constant discussion surrounding broken records, Brandsegg-Nygard said the team has tried to keep its focus on the present. Even after securing the fastest playoff berth in franchise history, the Griffins are determined to continue building momentum.
“I mean, it’s kind of hard to try to look at every record, to be honest, but we just try to play one game at a time,” he said. “We’re focusing on just playing our game and see what happens. We still have to play hard and win games. It’s always better to win than lose, and we want to have a good seeding into the playoffs too.”
Grand Rapids has 18 games remaining in the regular season and will face the Cleveland Monsters in a two-game road set on Friday and Saturday.
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