Coming off another season-ending shoulder surgery, Anders Bjork ready to start anew in 3rd season

Anders Bjork found himself in an all-too-familiar spot last year — under the knife and with another season frustratingly cut short. 

For a player that’s largely been able to avoid the injury bug prior to the start of his pro career, the last two years have been anything but encouraging for a forward that stood as one of Boston’s brightest prospects back in 2017.

With his stock at an all-time high after getting recognized as a Hobey Baker finalist at Notre Dame in 2017, the shifty forward cracked Boston’s roster out of training camp two years ago — debuting as the final piece of a potent top line with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. 

The results were encouraging during Bjork’s first couple of weeks in the NHL, with the 63-37-10 trio generating a goals-for per 60 minutes rate of 4.46. But Bjork’s season was ultimately halted after just 30 games — as shoulder surgery in February 2018 put him on the shelf for the remainder of his rookie year.

The promise found in that first campaign was hard to come by in 2018-19. Limited to just one goal and three points over 20 games with Boston, Bjork found himself toiling down in Providence by December — missing a return to South Bend as part of Boston’s matchup with the Blackhawks at the annual Winter Classic game on January 1.

Bjork only logged 13 games down in the AHL before yet another season ended prematurely, with another shoulder surgery in February once again putting the forward on the outside looking in as the Bruins orchestrated a playoff run all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

For Bjork, who has only logged 50 games up in the NHL over the course of two years, the first procedure stood as just a bad break in what has been an otherwise fruitful hockey career.

To undergo another procedure just 13 months later? Even the most optimistic player would hit some sort of wall when tasked with another summer rife with grueling rehab work. Those sentiments were there for Bjork, but did not last very long.



"You struggle with motivation a little bit," Bjork said Thursday at Warrior Ice Arena. "But I would say it’s mainly a whole different lifestyle. You want to still be working at your job and improving as a hockey player, so you got to find a different way to do that. I think that’s especially hard for a young guy who — I haven’t really been injured before playing pro, so I had to focus on my rehab and my mental game.

"It’s tough to watch hockey games, but that’s something you can do to learn and see other players and hopefully incorporate into your game when you get healthy. Those are things you try to do and they’re tough. I think anyone who goes through injures knows, but you definitely want to keep improving. You’re fortunate to play this game, you’ve got to make your opportunities count, no matter what challenge you face."

Bjork’s second surgery put the winger on a six-month recovery timetable, with the Wisconsin native only getting fully cleared for training in mid-July. While his recovering shoulder limited him when it came to his upper-body work, Bjork was still able to fine-tune his skating and other lower-body training circuits over the summer. 

Bjork will be able to see the fruit of some of his offseason labors this weekend, as the winger will join a loaded roster of B’s prospects in Buffalo for the Prospects Challenge — an annual showcase that will see Boston battle the Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins and New Jersey Devils’ most promising young skaters in a round-robin tournament. 

One of the “elder statesmen”, figuratively speaking, on Boston’s roster at 23 years old, Bjork will be given every opportunity to impose his will against competition that could be anywhere from three to five years his junior. 

“I think, for him, this is a good opportunity to get some gameplay,” Bruins development coordinator Jamie Langenbrunner said of Bjork’s involvement in the Prospects Challenge. “It’s been a long time since he's played. Him and I talked about it this summer. This was a good opportunity for him to do that. We expect him to be a good player this weekend and he should be. He should be noticeable.

"But it's more to get his timing down, get into some game action. For as much as you work hard in the summer and you're playing summer hockey and doing all that, it isn’t a real game. Guys aren’t taking runs at you, so it will be good for him to take that next step in his process to getting back to game-ready.”

Bjork has been dealt a fair share of bad hands to start off his NHL career, but for the first time in quite a while, the forward is finds himself in a good place, especially health-wise.

A strong showing up in Buffalo stands as just a small step towards his ultimate goal of reclaiming a top-six role in Boston. But taking to the ice without any lingering effects from his surgery is already a massive step forward for Bjork — a luxury that wasn't afforded to him during last year's training camp.

"Last year, I wasn't really able to skate much before camp too," Bjork said of being limited last September due to his extended offseason rehab. "They didn’t want to rush me into stuff. I think it’s good, mentally for me, to not feel rushed or anything like that (this year). One of the things I’m trying to do is be patient with it and just keep working on improving my game and be the best player I can be. I think it’s good to have this rookie camp and more exhibition games so from a mental standpoint, I can sort of relax and just find ways to improve as a player.”