All Purpose Oliver Bjorkstrand thread

Old Guy

Just waitin' on my medication.
Aug 30, 2015
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I watched most of the game (especially after Virginia Tech started getting throttled on ESPN). Aaron Portzline summed up my thoughts about Borkstrand last night. He had a terrible give-away which lead to an early St. Louis goal. After that, he was engaged, scrapped for pucks, mixed it up and made the most of his opportunities. I though Jake Allen robbed him, but Korpisalo returned the favor a few minutes later.

All things considered, I believe he will be fine. He has never had a big October or November (or December for that matter).
 

onetimerguy

Registered User
Jul 17, 2018
86
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He actually had 24 points in his first 40 games last year and only 16 in final 42 games. So he started fine and faded last year. Its an ice time issue with him, along with line mates. Wonder how many points Panarin or Atkinson would score with the line mates that Oli plays with 50? I think what upsets me the most is the lack of time on ice. How do players develop.....by playing. Would really like to see what he'd produce with 14 minutes a night with the same line mates (like Wennberg and Duclair) for a month.
 
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major major

Registered User
Feb 18, 2013
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He actually had 24 points in his first 40 games last year and only 16 in final 42 games. So he started fine and faded last year. Its an ice time issue with him, along with line mates.

Per naturalstattrick, in his first 42 games last year he played 13:59, 11:48 per at evens. His P/60 was 2.3, leading the team.

In his final 40 games he played 14:35, 12:44 per at evens, with a 1.06 P/60, pretty bad.

I can see his linemates for the year, and he had his best success with Foligno and Wennberg. But I can't see the dates for the lines, corsica doesn't have it either.

Would really like to see what he'd produce with 14 minutes a night with the same line mates (like Wennberg and Duclair) for a month.

I'd love to see that. If he keeps playing like he did last night, I have a feeling we might just see that. Bjorkstrand's ups and downs are not all on the coach, I'd add.
 
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Crede777

Deputized
Dec 16, 2009
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From Portzline's recap:

The Jenner-Foligno-Anderson line wasn’t the only one that packed a punch. The Duclair-Wennberg-Bjorkstrand line was really good. Bjorkstrand stood out especially for the hard checks and awkward hits he absorbed. But he kept getting up and grinding.


Here’s Anderson: “Borky’s a skill player. But when he’s in there battling like that, you have to respect it. We need more of that. The bench was really fired up. You could hear it all through the bench. Everybody was standing up screaming at him. He’s not a big dude. At all. But he hangs in there."
 

CBJWerenski8

Formerly CBJWennberg10 (RIP Kivi)
Jun 13, 2009
42,078
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I was pretty impressed with him. I thought for sure after that toe drag mistake he was destined for dog house duty but he battled back. It's funny how two players who frustrate us the most (Bjork and Wennberg) actually seemed to work well together. We'll see if it lasts, but it was a good game for Bjork
 

onetimerguy

Registered User
Jul 17, 2018
86
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And Sonny's market value has been destroyed so probably won't get a bag of pucks for him now. Can't help but feel for Bjork. He's never given consistent line mates or toi. He scored 3 goals in preseason with Robinson and Stenlund as mates. Can't help but feel he's be good with Anderson and Jenner. But can't see that happening.
 

Toejam

Registered User
Nov 26, 2018
1
1
I have followed Oliver's career ever since he joined the Portland Winterhawks. He plays a skill game and is a big offensive threat. His downside is he is not big and doesn't check much. Last year he got a chance when people were injured so he stayed on one or two lines and excelled. As people got healthy Torts started putting their old lines back together and even though Ollies time stayed the same he constantly bounced around lines and line mates. This year he hasten stayed on the same line for a whole game exept to sit on the bench. He doesn't fit Torts coaching style. If you hear him talk about him he is trying to change his style of play and that is not the way Ollie plays. So I'm hoping that since he doesn't fit Torts style they will trade him soon so he can get back this style of play and start having fun again.

Thoughts?
 
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KJ Dangler

Registered User
Oct 21, 2006
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Columbus
I have followed Oliver's career ever since he joined the Portland Winterhawks. He plays a skill game and is a big offensive threat. His downside is he is not big and doesn't check much. Last year he got a chance when people were injured so he stayed on one or two lines and excelled. As people got healthy Torts started putting their old lines back together and even though Ollies time stayed the same he constantly bounced around lines and line mates. This year he hasten stayed on the same line for a whole game exept to sit on the bench. He doesn't fit Torts coaching style. If you hear him talk about him he is trying to change his style of play and that is not the way Ollie plays. So I'm hoping that since he doesn't fit Torts style they will trade him soon so he can get back this style of play and start having fun again.

Thoughts?
Not me, Torts needs to be told by management he needs to adapt ASAP, or he will be canned . We already squandered a huge asset in Karlsson , when Torts pegged him as a checker , and he goes to an organization where the coach actually utilizes his players talents , and becomes a #1 center . Milano now has 9 points in 8 games in Cleveland , and Bjorkstrand has been benched . Meanwhile Duclair , one of our best offensive players on the year , has had games of 8 to 9 minutes , threatened to be benched . Meanwhile Sadlak has 2 points on the season , Nash has 2 points on the season , and Hanikinen has 4. Instead of ruining our franchise and running off players that have actual talent , to bring in checkers , how about we address what is the real problem with the franchise .
 

Viqsi

"that chick from Ohio"
Oct 5, 2007
53,660
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I have followed Oliver's career ever since he joined the Portland Winterhawks. He plays a skill game and is a big offensive threat. His downside is he is not big and doesn't check much. Last year he got a chance when people were injured so he stayed on one or two lines and excelled. As people got healthy Torts started putting their old lines back together and even though Ollies time stayed the same he constantly bounced around lines and line mates. This year he hasten stayed on the same line for a whole game exept to sit on the bench. He doesn't fit Torts coaching style. If you hear him talk about him he is trying to change his style of play and that is not the way Ollie plays. So I'm hoping that since he doesn't fit Torts style they will trade him soon so he can get back this style of play and start having fun again.

Thoughts?
Pro tip: pretty much every time you see Tortorella talk about "checking", he doesn't mean hitting people, he means "backchecking" - y'know, things like covering the point when a defenseman pinches, or getting back to the defensive zone quickly when the other team has the puck. That's something an NHLer has to do nowadays. It's not "skill" versus "physical", it's the "defensive liability" question.

* * *​
Instead of ruining our franchise and running off players that have actual talent , to bring in checkers , how about we address what is the real problem with the franchise .
The real problem is that a lot of the young skill guys we have are playing defense-is-optional, and that's just not possible with our team because the one thing that makes us competitive is having blueliners doing things like joining the rush and pinching in more often than not. That's how the team is built. If you object to that, you should be complaining about Kekalainen not trading away blueliners for forwards, rather than complaining about Tortorella playing two-way forwards.
 

EDM

Registered User
Mar 8, 2008
6,222
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I think it is horribly bad coaching when Riley Nash is put out there game after game to no good effect while Bjork sits. A Hannikeien (sp) , Sedlak, Bjork line should be given a shot. It cannot be any worse than the current 4th line.
 
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