Berggren Battling for His Red Wings Job?

For Detroit Red Wings forward Jonatan Berggren, next season probably started a month ago when coach Todd McLellan was looking to make big plays to help push his team in the playoffs.

As the Red Wings prepare for an offseason that will include changes to revamp the Detroit offense, Berggren goes into tonight’s game against the Dallas Stars with one goal in the past 20 games. In professional sports, last impressions are more important than first impressions.

“I’d like to see him capture the moment.” McLellan said when asked about Berggren’s season. “It may not mean anything in the standings, it obviously it doesn’t, but for him individually to capture the moment.”

The change of coaches looked like it was going to work to Berggren’s advantage earlier this season. McLellan gave Berggren just a minute or two more per game than Derek Lalonde had. McLellan didn’t know much about the gifted Swede.

“He happened to score two goals on breakaways right away,” McLellan recalled. “(You could) sense his confidence level going up.”

But Berggren couldn’t sustain the level of play that intrigued McLellan. “Somehow he’s worked his way to being in that middle ground,” McLellan said.

Needs Higher Compete Level

He’s not in a place where he has a job guaranteed for next season, especially when Detroit wants to put a charge into that group of bottom of bottom six forwards.  With 10 goals this season, Berggren has had moments when he looked like he could deliver at the NHL level. But he has not had enough of them. He has played with veterans, including Vladimir Tarasenko or Michael Rasmussen.

“At the end of the day, he and only he is responsible for his results,” McLellan said. “We can help him. We can do all of the things that we believe can push him in the right director. But he’s got to get it out of himself.”

McLellan views him as a smart offensive player.

“I think he’s got all of the tools, tools to play,” McLellan said. “He’s just consistently got to put it together.”

What does McLellan want to see?

“We need to see him competitive,” McLellan said.

McLellan sees Berggren more of a third liner, than a fourth line grinder. But he needs production to hold one of those spots. That’s when he needs to capture the moment. It would help if he started doing that over the last three games.