On The Eve of Their First Game In Months, the Bruins Ink Anders Bjork to a Three-Year Extension

Can you feel it in the air folks? Hockey is back! Sure, it's tough to get too geeked up about exhibition games in late July but let's remember that the last hockey games before this took place in mid-March. The Bruins play the Blue Jackets tomorrow night (7, NESN) in their lone exhibition game before their three seeding games begin this weekend as they play the Flyers on Sunday afternoon (3, NBC). With that in mind, Boston got some housekeeping done since in a normal year at this time, free agency in the NHL would basically be closed. B's GM Don Sweeney signed young forward Anders Bjork to a three-year (through the 2022-23 season) contract extension with an annual cap hit of $1.6 million.

Obviously, if you made a list of most important Bruins both in this (fingers crossed) restart and going forward, Bjork would be nowhere near the top of that group. However, wrapping up his third season in Boston and at the ripe old age of 23, you can begin to understand how valuable Bjork can be in the near future. Hampered by numerous injuries his first two years with the Bruins-where he played a combined 50 games-he finally was able to start to show his potential in 2019-20 by playing 58 games for the best team in the NHL.

He had nine goals (including one on the power play), 10 assists and he was plus-five. A lefty shot, he has played all over Boston's lineup and since this group reconvened a few weeks ago in Warrior Ice Arena in Brighton, he's been spotted all over the place from the first line (right wing when David Pastrnak was out) to the third line (he alternated at right wing with Karson Kuhlman) where he skated this afternoon at the team's practice in Toronto. With Ondrej Kase on the side of a milk carton and Nick Ritchie similarly nowhere to be seen lately, Bjork could have a bigger role than most outside the team expect in the NHL playoffs the next few months.

The pedigree has always been there for Bjork, a native of Wisconsin who was an alternate captain at Notre Dame where he had a decorated career. He also played for two years with the U.S. National development team (where many top American hockey players go; his B's teammate Matt Grzelcyk also spent time there) in 2012-14 before getting drafted in the fifth round (146th overall) by the Bruins in 2014. Anders agreed to an entry-level deal on May 30, 2017 and made the Bruins out of camp that following season, making his NHL debut on October 5 vs. Nashville.

No doubt these NHL playoffs will be different than any that have ever occurred before-in a bubble city with no crowds-but odds are that at least one of our favorite aspects of the best tournament in sports will hold true: there are always random guys for every team that step up in the biggest moments. I'm certainly not predicting any grandeur for Bjork but he fits the profile of someone who casual fans will be like "Who!?" when he scores an overtime goal in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Probably thanks to his time in Ann Arbor (with the U.S. team) and South Bend, he is mature beyond his years and has the defensive forward style game that the Black and Gold love so if he can stay healthy (the main variable for him), he could be an important piece for the Bruins in upcoming seasons with so many older forwards (like Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, David Krejci, etc.) eventually retiring.

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