Oliver Bjorkstrand
Get ready to look like the smartest guy in your league when you draft Oliver Bjorkstrand. The Columbus Blue Jackets winger is ready to join the league of extraordinarily talented young wingers taking over the NHL.
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The 24-year-old Dane is entering his second full season in the big leagues primed for a breakout. After playing all 82 games last season, Bjorkstrand should see his ice time and deployment significantly increase this year. That is especially true once the Jackets ship off Artemi Panarin, which they will do before the trade deadline.
When that happens, Bjorkstrand becomes the natural successor to Panarin’s spot on the power play. That could also lead to a line shuffle where Cam Atkinson is no longer on Pierre-Luc Dubois‘ right wing.
Bjorkstrand would be a better fit on his wing in my opinion and Atkinson on Alexander Wennberg‘s wing. This move would help Bjorkstrand’s growth and give him an opportunity to hit 30 goals this season.
He has the raw talent to post 30 goals and 30 assist. We’ve already seen him post 29 assist and have much higher shooting percentage rates than his 6.7% last year so Bjorkstrand hitting those numbers is no where out of the question.
Take a good hard look at Oliver Bjorkstrand in the 9th or 10th rounds of your draft.