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Anders Bjork
Bjork with Team USA in 2023
Born (1996-08-05) August 5, 1996 (age 27)
Mequon, Wisconsin, U.S.
Height 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight 190 lb (86 kg; 13 st 8 lb)
Position Left wing
Shoots Left
AHL team
Former teams		 Rockford IceHogs
Boston Bruins
Buffalo Sabres
Chicago Blackhawks
National team   United States
NHL Draft 146th overall, 2014
Boston Bruins
Playing career 2017–present

Anderson Patrick Bjork (born August 5, 1996) is an American professional ice hockey left winger for the Rockford IceHogs of the American Hockey League (AHL). Bjork was selected 146th overall by the Boston Bruins in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.

Playing career

Collegiate

Bjork played college hockey at Notre Dame in the Hockey East from 2014 to 2017. In 2016–17, Bjork was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, marking him as one of the ten best players in men's college hockey; [1] he was also named a Hockey East First-Team All-Star, [2] and was a co-winner of the Hockey East Three-Stars Award. [3]

Professional

Boston Bruins

At the completion of his junior season with the Fighting Irish, Bjork concluded his collegiate career in signing a three-year, entry-level contract with the Boston Bruins on May 30, 2017. [4]

Bjork's NHL career started with the 2017–18 Bruins season opener, a 4–3 home ice victory over the Nashville Predators, when he scored an assist on fellow Bruins rookie Jake DeBrusk's first-ever NHL goal, for his first point as an NHL player. [5] Bjork's first NHL goal came in the fourth game of the season on the road against the Arizona Coyotes, as the final goal of a 6–2 road win for the Bruins. [6]

On January 30, 2018, during a home-ice game against the visiting Anaheim Ducks, Bjork suffered a season-ending left shoulder injury – he underwent a successful arthroscopy and labral repair three weeks later, and was expected to take six months to fully heal from the surgical repair. [7]

Buffalo Sabres

In the pandemic delayed 2020–21 season, Bjork collected 2 goals and 5 points through 30 regular season games before he was dealt by the Bruins on the eve of the trade deadline along with a 2021 second-round draft pick to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for Taylor Hall and Curtis Lazar on April 11, 2021. [8]

Chicago Blackhawks

In the final year of his contract, on March 2, 2023, on the eve of that season's trade deadline, Bjork was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for future considerations. [9] At the time of the trade, Bjork had spent the entire season with Buffalo's AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans, save for one game with the Sabres on November 16, 2022. [10] Bjork was recalled from the minors by the Blackhawks and played out the remainder of the season with the team in posting 2 goals and 8 points through 13 appearances.

As a free agent from the Blackhawks, and unable to earn an NHL contract on the open market, Bjork opted to continue his tenure within the Blackhawks organization in signing a one-year AHL contract with affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs, on August 10, 2023. [11]

Personal life

Before Notre Dame, Bjork went to high school at Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, when he moved there to play for the USA Hockey National Team Development Program. [12] Bjork's family includes several Notre Dame alumni. His parents, Kirt and Patricia, both of whom are of Swedish descent, his sisters Brinya and Keali, and cousin Erik Condra all attended the school. Kirt Bjork also played hockey for Notre Dame. [13] [14] During college Anders was enrolled in the Mendoza College of Business. He has a younger brother, Brady, who has committed to play hockey at University of Notre Dame. [14]

Career statistics

Medal record
Representing   United States
Ice hockey
World Junior Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Finland
IIHF World U18 Championship
Gold medal – first place 2014 Finland
World U-17 Hockey Challenge
Bronze medal – third place 2013 Quebec

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2012–13 U.S. NTDP Juniors USHL 38 8 7 15 28 — — — — —
2012–13 U.S. NTDP U17 USDP 56 12 12 24 48 — — — — —
2013–14 U.S. NTDP Juniors USHL 26 9 12 21 0 — — — — —
2013–14 U.S. NTDP U18 USDP 61 21 20 41 10 — — — — —
2014–15 University of Notre Dame HE 41 7 15 22 14 — — — — —
2015–16 University of Notre Dame HE 35 12 23 35 8 — — — — —
2016–17 University of Notre Dame HE 39 21 31 52 16 — — — — —
2017–18 Boston Bruins NHL 30 4 8 12 6 — — — — —
2017–18 Providence Bruins AHL 9 2 2 4 2 — — — — —
2018–19 Boston Bruins NHL 20 1 2 3 2 — — — — —
2018–19 Providence Bruins AHL 13 1 9 10 2 — — — — —
2019–20 Providence Bruins AHL 7 3 5 8 4 — — — — —
2019–20 Boston Bruins NHL 58 9 10 19 10 10 0 1 1 6
2020–21 Boston Bruins NHL 30 2 3 5 10 — — — — —
2020–21 Buffalo Sabres NHL 15 3 3 6 4 — — — — —
2021–22 Buffalo Sabres NHL 58 5 3 8 10 — — — — —
2022–23 Rochester Americans AHL 42 8 17 25 16 — — — — —
2022–23 Buffalo Sabres NHL 1 0 0 0 0 — — — — —
2022–23 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 13 2 6 8 2 — — — — —
NHL totals 225 26 35 61 44 10 0 1 1 6

International

Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM
2013 United States U17 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 6 0 1 1 8
2014 United States U18 1st place, gold medalist(s) 7 2 0 2 4
2016 United States WJC 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 7 3 0 3 0
2017 United States WC 5th 5 0 0 0 0
2023 United States WC 4th 10 0 2 2 2
Junior totals 20 5 1 6 12
Senior totals 15 0 2 2 2

Awards and honors

Award Year
College
HE Second All-Star Team 2016
HE First All-Star Team 2017
AHCA East Second-Team All-American 2017 [15]
Hobey Baker Award (finalist) 2017

References

  1. ^ "NCAA hockey: Hobey Baker Memorial Award announces top 10 finalists". March 15, 2017.
  2. ^ "Hockey East Honors 2016–17 All-Star Teams". March 16, 2017.
  3. ^ "Hockey East announces award winners". Hockey East. March 15, 2017. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
  4. ^ "Bruins sign forward Anders Bjork to entry-level contract". Boston Bruins. May 30, 2017. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
  5. ^ Kalman, Matt (October 5, 2017). "Bruins defeat Predators in season opener". nhl.com. National Hockey League. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
  6. ^ Russo, Eric (October 15, 2017). "Bjork Tallies First NHL Goal in Arizona". nhl.com/bruins. Boston Bruins. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
  7. ^ Ryan, Conor (February 22, 2018). "Anders Bjork injury: Boston Bruins rookie forward to miss rest of the season due to shoulder surgery". masslive.com. MassLive. Retrieved May 29, 2018. The Boston Bruins released an update on the 21-year-old forward Thursday, announcing that the rookie underwent a successful left shoulder arthroscopy and labral repair on February 20 at Massachusetts General Hospital. As a result of the procedure, Bjork is expected to be out for six months...Bjork suffered the injury during a loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Jan. 30, exiting the game after just 2:43 of time on ice after taking a crosscheck from Francois Beauchemin.
  8. ^ "Sabres acquire Bjork, 2nd-round draft pick from Bruins for Hall, Lazar". Buffalo Sabres. April 11, 2021. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  9. ^ "RELEASE: Blackhawks Acquire Anders Bjork from Buffalo". NHL.com. March 2, 2023. Retrieved March 3, 2023.
  10. ^ "Blackhawks acquire Bjork from Sabres". TSN. Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. March 2, 2023. Retrieved March 2, 2023.
  11. ^ "IceHogs sign Bjork to AHL contract". American Hockey League. August 10, 2023. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
  12. ^ "Anders Bjork". teamusa.usahockey.com. Retrieved October 25, 2019.
  13. ^ John Heisler (April 7, 2017). "The Bjorks: Hockey Is the Family Business". und.com. Archived from the original on July 7, 2018. Retrieved November 11, 2017.
  14. ^ a b Russo, Eric (July 31, 2018). "Impact is Lasting for Bjork, Notre Dame". NHL.com. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
  15. ^ "2016–2017 All-American Team". The American Hockey Coaches Association. Retrieved June 21, 2017.

External links

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Hockey East Three-Stars Award
2017
With: Clayton Keller and Tyler Kelleher 		Succeeded by
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