Of late, all the Detroit Red Wings have been able to offer to their fan base is hope.
Hope for the future. Hope that things are going to get better.
Certainly, hope was on the agenda as the Red Wings were whipping the Buffalo Sabres 5-2 in an NHL preseason game at Little Caesars Arena.
“Part of camp is us learning and understanding how players react to different situations,” Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said. “How they tick, the amount of information they can take in.
“And in turn, they’re learning a little bit about us. How are we going to react when they make a mistake? What our practice is going to be like.
“We’re here to provide a little bit of comfort while they’re here. That’s really important, and it’s played very well.”
Speaking of playing very well, we wrote the other day about waiting for the wow moment to arrive from 2023 first-round pick Axel Sandin Pellikka.
Wow, did it ever arrive.
Sandin-Pellikka with a solid defensive play, then a powerplay shift that ends with setting up Brandsegg-Nygård for the goal #LGRW pic.twitter.com/xKJQ5aI2D6
— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) September 25, 2025
The young Swedish defenseman was darting and dancing his way about the ice in the attacking zone. This was especially the case when the Wings went to the power play.
“Incredible vision on the blue line and really deceptive,” McLellan said. “The ability to hold and then release the puck.
“I don’t think anybody, including his teammates, knows if he’s going to shoot or to pass it, which is a really good thing. So, yeah, we’re just anxiously watching him get better night after night.
“He’s starting to adapt.”
MBN Delivers Payload For Red Wings
At the other end of one of those ASP offensive zone passes was forward Michael Brandsegg-Nygard. The Norwegian winger, Detroit’s top pick in the 2024 draft, unleashed a howitzer that found the back of the Buffalo net.
MBN on the POWER PLAY! #LGRW pic.twitter.com/Ta7S1BR1UZ
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 25, 2025
“I watched the one playoff game in Grand Rapids last year, and I thought he set himself up to shoot all the time,” McLellan said. “If somebody gets him the puck, he’s ready to shoot it. So I think that’s a big part of his game.”
For however long he’s here with the big club, the only objective on Brandsegg-Nygard’s mind is providing the Wings with daily reminders of the variety of tools he can bring to the team.
“I’m just trying to show that I’m willing to play hard to play here,” Brandsegg-Nygard said. “I know the hockey in the NHL is pretty hard, so I’m trying to get used to that. An yeah, I don’t know, use my body as much as possible.”
Adapting, assessing, and creating. Both MBN and ASP are showing themselves to be quick learners. It may not mean they break camp with Detroit, but as Marco Kasper displayed last year, if they keep on delivering the goods in Grand Rapids, it won’t be long until they are earning their Red Wings.
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