Why would they send him to Detroit for development camp, fly him back to sweeen for their camp, then fly him back to Detroit for main camp if they thought he was just going to stay in Sweden?
It’s not a guarantee obviously but if they were just going to leave him in Sweden for the year for sure, they would just let him gain a role with the team in camp and stay there after the Swedish camp is done
He wasn’t staying in Detroit after Dev Camp even if the plan was to play in GR/Detroit. So that’s a moot point.
Now, he also has an agreement in place with Skellefteå and there’s enough time for him to start with them and allow the Red Wings to evaluate the situation. The question is why not just leave him there? I see a few different explanations:
1. They think he could be closer to NHL ready than most and want him at camp to measure against Danielson/Mazur/Berggren/etc. Even if he likely doesn’t earn an NHL spot, he could be close enough that a GR position with call-ups becomes an attractive option
2. Yzerman is working on one or more trades, that if they come to fruition could send away forwards from the NHL roster and/or AHL roster, opening up room for MBN there.
3. Negotiating tactic vs. Skellefteå/SHL, essentially saying ”if you don’t give him a good role with icetime we can bring him over”.