Early Sunday afternoon, the Detroit Red Wings announced that they were assigning forward Jonatan Berggren back to the Grand Rapids Griffins. The Red Wings had called Berggren up to the big club on an emergency basis on October 21st, with Robby Fabbri taking longer to heal than was originally expected and Klim Kostin also banged up. During his call-up, Berggren played in two games, logging 13:29 in his team's 6-2 win over the Flames and playing another 5:10 in Detroit's 5-4 OT loss at the hands of the Kraken. That he is sent back down comes as no major surprise. Head coach Derek Lalonde said Friday that the team had planned to send Berggren down to play for the Griffins this weekend, but a few nagging injuries in the forward group meant the young Swede traveled to Boston [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings/news/red-wings-game-day-notebook-10-28-23-where-to-watch]. With 12 healthy forwards available against the Bruins last night (and Berggren a healthy scratch), the obvious next step was a return to GR and some more minutes with the Griffins. If there is anything a bit surprising about Berggren's brief return to Detroit, it's that Robby Fabbri remains out of action for several more weeks, so there is still something of a vacancy for a forward with offensive upside. However, the Red Wings are evidently satisfied with their present options up front and see a big role in Grand Rapids as a more productive step for Berggren developmentally. In his two games with the Griffins prior to the call-up, Berggren recorded three assists. THE SILKY MITTEN STATE Be sure to check out THN Detroit's new podcast: The Silky Mitten State. I'm joined by Connor Earegood of The Michigan Daily, College Hockey News, and THN's new NCAA site. We'll be chatting Red Wings, college hockey across the state, and anything else related to hockey in Michigan that catches our attention. Be on the look out for a new episode every Friday. Here's a quick video preview, in which Connor and I chat about Alex DeBrincat's excellent start to the new year. Inside Alex DeBrincat's torrid start to '23-24 for the Red Wings You can find full episodes on either Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/episode/4n6fWHelEvY8wMWSfqyEvn?si=bf71d4123a46445d] or Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-1-red-wings-back-down-to-earth-checking-in/id1714096531?i=1000632936511]:
