Anders Bjork has persevered
Here’s an individual that has suffered some really significant injuries in his young career, and yet Anders Bjork dusts himself off each time and re-commits wholly to his goal of making the NHL full-time with the Boston Bruins.
In January 2018, Anders Bjork injured his shoulder in the Boston Bruins’ clash with the Anaheim Ducks; that injury would take six months to heal after surgical repair work. This occurred having missed numerous games the season prior due to another shoulder injury.
Now, you could argue that he doesn’t make the team because he’s shown himself to be prone to shoulder injuries, but fact is he showed up at the Prospects Challenge and now in pre-season for the Boston Bruins and hasn’t shown an inkling of the injuries lingering.
In fact, Boston Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy is quoted as saying, “he had a good training camp, good preseason, he’s healthy, bigger, stronger.”
For the coach to see that he’s not only stronger but also healthier suggests that surely this isn’t an issue and isn’t the reason for missing the cut.
If you’re Anders Bjork, you’ve got to see the demotion to the American Hockey League as another test of that perseverance. If he can jump this hurdle, the NHL is right there.
Given that in two seasons, he’s managed just 50 NHL games and 22 AHL games; it’s safe to say if he can persevere and manage a full 82 game schedule, the Boston Bruins are going to come calling next year, if not before.
It’s not like they go through whole seasons without needing injury call-ups after all!