TEMPE, Ariz. — Jonatan Berggren will get a chance to prove he should be a regular for the Detroit Red Wings.
Having traded away a forward at Friday’s deadline without bringing one back, the Wings looked to their organizational depth for reinforcement and planned to call up Jonatan Berggren when they play the Golden Knights on Saturday in Las Vegas.
“Hopefully we get a little spark,” coach Derek Lalonde said after Friday’s 4-0 loss at the Arizona Coyotes. That came hours after the Wings shipped out Klim Kostin; the trade and Dylan Larkin’s lower-body injury left them one short of the usual 12 forwards.
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Berggren, 23, already has appeared in nine games with the Wings this season, producing two goals and three assists. Last season, his rookie year, Berggren contributed 15 goals and 13 assists in 67 games. Even with such a solid output, the Wings sent him to the Grand Rapids Griffins to open the 2023-24 season because they wanted him to work on defense.
He’s done that with the Griffins, combining 46 points in 43 games with an even rating.
Larkin is out at least until mid-March, so Berggren projects to have a solid opportunity to turn this call-up, his fifth of the season, into a permanent stay. He only needs to appear in four more NHL games to lose his waiver-exempt status — once he plays 80 games (he was at 76 entering Saturday), the 2018 second-round pick is likely to stay with the Wings.
Contact Helene St. James athstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter@helenestjames. Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from Amazon,Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.
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