Detroit Red Wings sign 2024 first-round pick Michael Brandsegg-Nygård to entry-level deal

Less than a month after they drafted him, the Detroit Red Wings signed Michael Brandsegg-Nygård to his first contract.

The standard three-year entry-level deal has an annual average of $975,000. It doesn't go into effect until Brandsegg-Nygård starts playing for the Wings, but it further solidifies his place in the organization.

Brandsegg-Nygård, 18, is slated to play the coming season for Skellefteå in the Swedish Hockey League, where he'll be teammates with 2023 first-round pick Axel Sandin Pellikka. The two just spent some time together earlier this month at development camp.

Brandsegg-Nygård (6 feet 1, 207 pounds) spent the majority of the 2023-24 season with Mora IK in Sweden’s second-highest professional league, recording 18 points in 41 regular-season games. Brandsegg-Nygård also collected 10 points in 12 playoff games, helping Mora IK reach the semifinals for the second consecutive season. Additionally, Brandsegg-Nygård logged 12 points in seven games with Mora IK’s under-20 team in Sweden’s top junior league.

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A native of Oslo, Norway, Brandsegg-Nygård became in June the first Norwegian-born player to be selected in the first round of an NHL draft. He represented Norway at the 2024 World Championship, collecting five points in seven games.

The night the Wings picked Brandsegg-Nygård at No. 15 at Sphere in Las Vegas, general manager Steve Yzerman was effusive about his appeal.

"He’s a big, strong young man, physically developed, can shoot the puck," Yzerman said. "A really good two-way player and a goal-scoring winger that fills a void in our prospect pool. 

"I think he plays a pretty responsible game for a young guy. We all played junior, we worried about scoring, we didn’t check. He’s just got a really well-rounded game to him. He’s got a B-game, I guess you would say, and when he’s not scoring, he’ll still be an effective player. I think he’s going to play in all situations."

Contact Helene St. James athstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter@helenestjames. Her books, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” and “The Big 50: The Men and Moments that made the Detroit Red Wings” are available from Amazon,Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.

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