Michael Brandsegg-Nygard Fits Guerin's "Bigger, Stronger, Faster" Mantra

Last week, Hockey Wilderness looked at the upcoming draft through the lens of "What Would Judd Brackett Do?" Going through his tendencies, we identified Berkly Catton as the ideal Brackett Pick of anyone who could conceivably fall to the Minnesota Wild. Skilled, smart, and prolific, Catton can easily remind anyone of, say, Elias Pettersson or Marco Rossi as prospects.

Today, we're going to switch glasses and look at this draft asking one question: What Would Bill Guerin Do?

Guerin is like a lot of ex-player general managers in the league in that they like players who remind them of their own games. It's hard to blame someone like Guerin for this, as he scored 429 goals and 856 points throughout his career by being big, skilled, and physical. That's not just a template that Guerin would want -- any GM would take a player like Guerin. Minnesota targeted Guerin-esque players in 2023 in Stramel and Rasmus Kumpulainen, but are they done looking for power forwards?

Guerin went in front of the press at the end of the season and said, "Bigger, stronger, faster, those are all nice things to have." If that's the goal from the organization's roots on up, you can bet these will be a consideration next week. So let's pop on our Guerin Goggles and take a closer look at Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, who comes into the draft looking a lot like a "Guerin Guy."

Brandsegg-Nygard brings a power forward game to the ice that Guerin loves to see from players like Joel Eriksson Ek, Marcus Foligno, and Ryan Hartman. "Place him anywhere in your lineup, hand him any assignment, and watch him skate through a wall," Elite Prospects' Draft Guide says of his compete level before correcting themselves. "Perhaps more aptly, watch him send another opponent through a wall."

High compete is undoubtedly a trait that will perk up Guerin's ears, and you can imagine him watching Brandsegg-Nygard's tape and wanting a guy with that much "Eff You" in his game in his organization.

At minimum, you know you're getting something from Brandsegg-Nygard. Someone who skates as well and is as willing to engage physically as he does has a future as a third-liner. It's easy to balk at the idea of a "high-floor" player, and Brandsegg-Nygard fits the bill of a "high-floor" kind of guy. However, that doesn't preclude him from having greater upside to hit.

What's that upside? From a Wild perspective, Eriksson Ek feels like an easy comparison: A bigger, physical, defensive forward who can score. There's shades of that in Brandsegg-Nygard's game, but the comparison that this long-time Wild observer continues to return to is the next evolution of Nino Niederreiter.

Brandsegg-Nygard carries more physicality with his game, but if you want to look at the offensive toolkit, Niederreiter comes through. While Eriksson Ek's goals come from the dirty areas of the net, Niederretier's speed and "silly hard" shot were how he scored goals. Brandsegg-Nygard has that same ability to threaten on the rush and unleash a howitzer.

"His wrister is quick, his one-timer is a hammer, and they're both effective from range," describes McKeen's Hockey in their Draft Guide. "[He] can do a lot with the little pockets of soft ice he finds, enabling him to score at 5-on-5 and especially from the dots on the power play."

It's difficult to write a scouting report that sounds any more like Niederreiter, a seven-time 20-goal scorer in the NHL, without saying his father is Nino Niederretier (unlikely) or perhaps we grew a Niederreiter clone in a Norwegian lab (slightly more likely).

As someone who hammered pucks and humans during his time in the NHL, Guerin should have some affinity for Brandsegg-Nygard doing the same. However, if the Wild take Brandsegg-Nygard, are we to take that as being a "Guerin Pick" and not a "Brackett Pick"?

We're making a mistake assuming those two things are incompatible. If you ask Brackett what he's most looking for in a prospect, he won't say skill. He won't say a blistering track record of production. Nor will he point to a player's size or measurables. "Hockey sense, for me, is critical. It trumps everything," Brackett told Joe Smith of The Athletic. "It generally allows someone who might be smaller or slower or less skilled to perform because they can perform at a different rate."

Brandsegg-Nygard's physical force shouldn't obscure that he's bringing a high-quality brain to the ice. "His Hockey IQ shines through in his ability to anticipate play developments and make crucial interceptions, particularly in the neutral zone," details FC Hockey in their Draft Guide. Good things happen when you're willing to work smarter and harder than your opponents. 

This year, those tools helped him hold his own in Allsvenskan, Sweden's second-highest league. He played with Mora IK, scoring eight goals and 18 assists in 41 regular-season games before absolutely smoking everyone in the postseason. He took a leap, with four goals and 10 points over his 12 postseason games. He parlayed this success to the World Championships, scoring three goals and five points while skating on the top line alongside Mats Zuccarello. You may notice the connection there.

It will be surprising if Brandsegg-Nygard isn't there for the Wild to take at Pick 13. Elite Prospects' consolidated ranking has him at 14th in this Draft Class. Bob McKenzie, whose draft rankings typically are the most accurate, has him outside the Top-15 of the class. Minnesota could trade back a few spots to target him, but it likely can't drop too far. His mix of goal-scoring ability, power-forward playstyle, and two-way play will be in demand. If the Wild have him high on their list, they'll have to play the board like Brandsegg-Nygard plays hockey -- not too cute -- or they'll lose out.