Determined to unlock more of his potential, Berggren eyeing big progress in 2025-26

DETROIT -- Taking his game to the next level is one of several goals Jonatan Berggren, who re-signed a one-year contract extension with the Detroit Red Wings on June 30, has set out for himself in the 2025-26 season.

“Last year was a good year for me,” Berggren recently told DetroitRedWings.com. “I feel like I got more opportunity after Todd [McLellan] became head coach, and I think I played better. This one-year deal is a prove-it-deal for me. I want to show what I can do.”

The 24-year-old forward skated in an NHL-career high 75 games last season, recording 12 goals and 12 assists for 24 points. Berggren said spending the full campaign with the Red Wings boosted his confidence and helped him stay even keel through the highs and the lows.

“It felt like I was part of the team,” Berggren said. “It’s hard when you’re going up and down between the AHL and NHL, so I got that confidence being there for a full year and I’m going to build off that.”

Since being taken by Detroit in the second round (No. 33 overall) of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, Berggren has added more and more to his game. In total, the Uppsala, Sweden, native has notched 58 points (29 goals, 29 assists) in 154 games with the Red Wings since 2022-23.

A lot of the progress he’s made, Berggren said, is the result of all the hard work he’s put in behind the scenes.

“Especially last summer, I feel like that was really good and then at Training Camp, everything felt good,” Berggren said. “I took another step last year, but I feel like I’m starting at a higher level this year maybe than where I was two years ago. I want to do the same thing this summer because I feel like that’s going to give me a good result this year.”

It’s hard to replicate in-game action and the grind of a full NHL regular season, but Berggren has been enjoying a targeted summer of work while training in Sweden.

“It’s a good group of guys I train with,” Berggren said. “Depending on if we skate or not, we usually start around 8 a.m. There’s also a two-hour workout we do before we recover.”

Berggren has also been taking advantage of the extra time to rest and relax this offseason because he knows, come September, it’ll be full steam ahead. The young forward added that the Red Wings stand to benefit from a full Training Camp under the leadership of McLellan.

“I feel like we played really good hockey when Todd came in,” Berggren said. “Now that we’re going to start with him, it’s going to be good to have a full camp with the new systems rather than how we had to learn during the middle of the season. That’s going to be huge.”

And with fresh faces like defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker, goalie John Gibson, and forwards James Van Riemsdyk and Mason Appleton, among others, now part of the mix, Berggren mentioned how Training Camp will also be a great time to strengthen the camaraderie of Detroit’s already tight-knit dressing room ahead of the organization’s Centennial season.

“That’s maybe the biggest thing to have in terms of the group, is everyone coming together,” Berggren said. “You see the good teams, their locker rooms are super tight. We have that going on too. It’s huge for the guys to all come together. We had a good group last year and a lot of the same guys too, so it’s only going to get better and better.”