What if Red Wings Had Put Berggren on Top Line Sooner?

As the Montreal Canadiens continue to try and squander what for all intents and purposes looked to be a certain playoff spot, it’s easy to ask what if on behalf of the Detroit Red Wings.

What if they’d won more than once in four meetings with the Canadiens?

In fact, you can always play the what if game when it comes to sports.

What if the New York Rangers had opted to sign 15-year-old Gordie Howe when he attended their training camp?

Hey, here’s another one.

What if the Red Wings had made the decision to try Jonatan Berggren on the top forward line earlier this season? Might Detroit still be in the playoff hunt?

To be sure, hindsight is always 20-20. That being said, that fact of the matter is that Berggren looked absoslutely at home skating alongside Lucas Raymond and captain Dylan Larkin in Monday’s 6-4 victory over the Dallas Stars.

Barely over a minute into the third period, Berggren would score a spectacular goal-scorer’s goal to knot the count at 3-3. Getting open on right wing, he one-timed a Raymond feed top shelf past Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger from the faceoff dot.

Johnny Burgers. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/trzNkfI1A1

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) April 15, 2025

The man who fed him the pass was suitably impressed by the work of his new linemate.

“Just with his vision and the way he skates, it brings an extra edge to the game,” Raymond said of Berggren’s presence. “He sees the ice very well.”

That trio was figuring in three Detroit goals. Berggren finished with a goal and an assist.

Red Wings Top Six Was Impressive

One of the more head-scratching decisions made by coach Todd McLellan late in the season as the Wings were in the midst of a playoff drive was the choice to break up the forward unit of Marco Kasper between Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat. He put Kane and DeBrincat with Larkin.

The reasoning was sound. McLellan was seeking to pull Larkin from his offensive doldrums. The execution was disastrous. It didn’t work and Detroit lost its way without what had been the club’s most dangerous line.

Just about everyone has taken a shot at being the third winged wheel beside Larkin and Raymond. Kasper was actually effective there. Michael Rasmussen and Vladimir Tarasenko were not.

Ive been saying it all year, berggren with larks and raymond. Looks like he can actually play hockey with skilled players and is better suited for this role compared to bottom 6 forecheck grinding.

— Cam (@CamVonHeem) April 14, 2025

All season long, those of us here at DHN wondered when Berggren would be given his top-six chance? Granted, he’d been in an offensive doldrum of his own, with one goal in 20 games. Although, Detroit assistant coach Trent Yawney even pondered whether that was of Berggren’s own doing.

“I thought that he handled himself pretty well and got a chance to shoot it in the net, and he did,” Yawney said. “And that’s maybe something that he wasn’t doing up until that point, even though maybe he didn’t get that type of chance (to play with top players).”

Reunited, the Kasper-DeBrincat-Kane group was also looking dangerous. They also accounted for a Detroit goal.

Earlier in the day, McLellan challenged Berggren to seize the moment. And he did.

“This was the first time I played with Ray and Larks and I felt it went pretty good,” Berggren said. “Those are really skillful players. I just give them the puck and they will handle it good.

“So yeah, I’m pretty happy with this.”

It’s always easy to wonder what if. Had the Red Wings assembled these top-six forwards earlier on, might they still be in the playoff chase?

It’s too little, too late to say for sure. But going forward with this top-six group is certainly a notion worth pondering looking ahead to next season.