After the Red Wings' win over the Canucks last Saturday, Dylan Larkin was asked about Jonatan Berggren, pronounced by Bally Sports Detroit's Trevor Thompson with some appropriate Swedish flavor: Yon-a-tin Bear-gren. Larkin smiled and asked, "Is that how you say his name?"
Larkin's been going with the Americanized version: "Johnathon," he laughed. "Berggren. (Berg-ren). Not the right pronunciation at all."
Later, Larkin sat next to Berggren at the podium in a room full of reporters and said, "It's just Bergy." To which Berggren leaned into the microphone and said, "Work in progress."
Berggren remains a work in progress for the Red Wings, as you would expect for a 22-year-old rookie. But he's coming along quickly, perhaps more quickly than the Wings envisioned this season. So quickly, in fact, that Derek Lalonde admitted Berggren has "put a wrench in a lot of plans" for Detroit, which is to say he's been a pleasant surprise. As the Wings debate how to proceed with a sudden logjam of forwards, including the potential return of Jakub Vrana to Detroit, they can't afford to send Berggren back to Grand Rapids.
"We probably didn't expect him to be here right now, and that's a roster spot," said Lalonde.
Berggren isn't going anywhere, not at this rate. He's been a welcome jolt of offense since he arrived from the AHL in November. He scored twice against the Canucks on Saturday and added another on Monday to help the Wings to a much-needed home-and-home sweep of Vancouver. He's got 11 goals in 39 games, a 23-goal pace that matches the rookie output of fellow winger Lucas Raymond.
There's lots of Raymond in Berggren's game, namely his cleverness with the puck. His mind and his hands make up for whatever size and strength he might lack. As Lalonde often says, Berggren just "makes plays." As Larkin puts it, "You watch a lot of his goals he's scored this year, it's finding soft spots on the ice where he's not covered and he's got good hands around the net."
"He's a smart hockey player and his vision and his skating is really good," said Larkin. "We're going to really need him, this season and into the future. He's made a great impact. As he gains more experience, he's just going to get better and it's going to help our team a lot. ... It's impressive what he's done, and we need him to keep going."
With a smile, Berggren leaned back into the microphone and said, "Thank you."
He doesn't say a whole lot, not yet, but not for lack of wit. His personality matches his game, playful and sometimes sneaky. Like Raymond and Moritz Seider last season, Berggren's joy has given the Red Wings a spark. His youth has especially rubbed off on Larkin, who looks more like a 26-year-old and less like an eight-year vet in Berggren's company. Whenever Berggren is mentioned, Larkin seems to be suppressing a grin.
He said he was laughing with Tyler Bertuzzi on the bench last Saturday when Berggren, listed rather generously at 5'11, kept going into the corners with 6'8 Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers. And kept coming out with the puck.
"He's just so crafty," Larkin said.
He's also stronger on his skates than he might get credit for, and scrappier than he may appear. When Berggren doesn't have the puck, he's willing to pay the price to get it back. His ability to "make plays in tight areas ... and gain some space," said Lalonde, has helped the Red Wings create more offense. He's also aided Detroit's power play, where he has four goals and four assists.
"He's skilled, he can complement guys, he can play up and down our lineup and he's helped drive some offense with the regular line he's been on," said Lalonde.
While it's incredibly early, Berggren has a chance -- a chance -- to redeem Ken Holland's final draft as Red Wings GM. Holland took him 33rd overall in 2018, the same year he took Filip Zadina one pick before star defenseman Quinn Hughes. That misfire haunts the Red Wings more with each season, but Berggren is looking more comfortable with each game. He said he was "pretty nervous" when he arrived, but "the more games I play, the more confidence I get."
"We still want him growing in some areas where we've tried to hold this group accountable," said Lalonde. "That's play away from the puck, that's wall play, some of those winning habits. ... This is a very sensitive development time and important time for him, and we want to push him along the right way."
The Red Wings' rebuild aches for more goal-scorers. Among rookies with at least 20 games played, Berggren is third in the NHL in goals per game. (And Elmer Soderblom is tied for fifth.) His ceiling remains to be seen, but he's been cooking in his first taste of The Show. Larkin has proposed another nickname for him, with a little more flavor than Bergy: Johnny Burgers.
"I like Burgers," said Berggren, "so I can't really complain. You can call me whatever you want."
"It's Yohnny," Larkin pointed out. Yohnny Berggers.
Listen live to 97.1 The Ticket via:
Audacy App | Online Stream | Smart Speaker
