It appears the Detroit Red Wings are the latest team to take a chance on Fabian Brunnstrom.
According to the Detroit News, the Red Wings signed Brunnstrom to a pro tryout with an invite to training camp next month.
"It's about competition, and if he comes in and plays better than someone else, we'll find a place (for him)," Wings' assistant general manager Jim Nill told the News. "Things probably haven't gone as he would have liked, but this is an opportunity."
Amid much hoopla, Brunnstrom signed as a free agent with the Dallas Stars in 2008 but failed to live up to expectations. Despite scoring a hat-trick in his first NHL game, the 26-year-old forward finished the season with 17 goals and 12 assists in 55 games.
After scoring just two goals in 44 games the following year, Brunnstrom was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs and spent last season with the AHL's Marlies, scoring four goals and adding 10 assists.
"The big thing is consistency, we want to see consistency out of him," Nill told the News. "He understands now what it takes to be a pro at this level. He maybe didn't understand that coming out of Sweden.
"He's in the same boat that Mikael Samuelsson or Danny Cleary were, guys coming in on pro tryouts. It worked out for those guys."
Nill said there has been no discussion of Brunnstrom playing with the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins if he fails to crack the Wings' lineup.
