Detroit Red Wings: Making early comparisons with Jonatan Berggren

Detroit Red Wings forward Jonatan Berggren has started to settle into the NHL and acclimate to the caliber of play he has to sustain to stick around. Frankly, he’s been impressive for the Red Wings and started to show some intriguing things with his play.

The Detroit Red Wings must be happy with how things have gone with their 22-year-old Swede. He’s settled into the team’s forward group quite nicely and has shown flashes of what time of benefits he will bring to the table for this team.

Berggren played in 35 games for the Red Wings in 2022-23 in his debut season. He has eight goals and ten assists for 18 total points. He’s looked the part of playmaking forward, getting the job done and finding ways to show off his skill set.

He’s a player who will create scoring chances by himself or by setting others up. He’s more likely to be passing than shooting like Valtteri Filppula, but Berggren has an advanced awareness on the ice that shows. He’s shown great passing abilities, finding the open man or creating opportunities to get pucks in net by way of his playmaking.

Detroit Red Wings forward Jonatan Berggren has a bright future.

He may not be going out and scoring 40 goals any time soon, but he’s going to be a playmaking winger who finds ways to get the job done and finds the back of the net from time to time. During the Red Wings’ victory over the San Jose Sharks, Prashanth Iyer tweeted this out:

Iyer compares to Hudler, who had a great career in the NHL of his own. It got me thinking about what other players Berggren might compare to the most. It seems like Berggren will be an assist-first player who scores but finds ways to create scoring chances first and foremost.

Hudler is a great comparison. During the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, he was coveted as more of a scorer or even-split-between goals/assist guy, getting some comparisons to Viktor Arvidsson, who’s been someone who produces the offense wherever he plays. . To me, someone who came to mind was Elias Lindholm. Though Lindholm is a center, he’s been a good boost for the Flames’ offense.

Lindholm’s ability to create scoring chances and find the back of the net has been impressive and is something that I think Berggren can tap into in his career. I mentioned being pass-first like Filppula earlier, and it feels like that’s another name to throw into the mix.

The point here is Berggren’s showing the fans some promising aspects of his performance. He’s going to be a solid piece of the team’s top-six moving forward. He’s getting time on the power-play now, but he could very much so become a distributor on the top unit, controlling the puck and using his playmaking abilities to help a power-play unit.

The Red Wings got a good one in Berggren, and he’s hoping to keep proving that in the second half and beyond. Thank you, Ken Holland, for that one.