Oliver Bjorkstrand

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DenmarkDenmark  Oliver Bjorkstrand Ice hockey player
Oliver Bjorkstrand
Date of birth April 10, 1995
place of birth Herning , Denmark
size 179 cm
Weight 71 kg
position Right wing
Shot hand Right
Draft
NHL Entry Draft 2013 , 3rd round, 89th position
Columbus Blue Jackets
Career stations
2010–2012 Herning Blue Fox
2012-2015 Portland Winterhawks
since 2015 Columbus Blue Jackets

Oliver Bjorkstrand (born April 10, 1995 in Herning ) is a Danish ice hockey player who has been under contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets in the National Hockey League since December 2013 . His older brother is Patrick and his father Todd was also a professional ice hockey player.

Career

Bjorkstrand, whose father Todd, who was born in the United States , moved to Denmark in 1988 , was born in Herning in 1995 . There he played in his youth in the ice hockey youth department of Herning IK . His father had completed his entire professional career in Denmark for this club and took over the coaching position after his career ended.

At the age of 15, Oliver Bjorkstrand started playing in Herning IK's U20 team. In the 2010/11 season he reached 13 goals and three more assists in 11 games . Six more missions with one goal and seven assists followed in the play-offs . His exceptional talent was recognized by the club when he was appointed to the second senior team for the first time. There he was used in the second division 1st division in a play-off game. In the 2011/12 season he was a regular in the club's first team, which is based in the AL-Bank Ligaen , and where his older brother Patrick also played under her father from 2009. With Herning he won the double of championship title and cup victory in 2012 . He himself was voted the most valuable player in the cup competition.

For the 2012/13 season Bjorkstrand moved to North America to the Portland Winterhawks in the top junior division Western Hockey League . In his first season in North America he led all rookies in goals (31) and scorer points (63) and consequently took part in the CHL Top Prospects Game . With the Winterhawks he also won the playoffs and thus the Ed Chynoweth Cup . Then Bjorkstrand was selected in the NHL Entry Draft 2013 in the third round at a total of 89th position by the Columbus Blue Jackets . The following year the team reached the final again, but had to admit defeat to the Edmonton Oil Kings , with Bjorkstrand top scorer (16) and scorer (33) of the playoffs.

In the 2014/15 season he led the scorer list of the regular season and thus won the Bob Clarke Trophy , as well as the WHL Plus-Minus Award for the best plus / minus statistics (+60). In addition, he was awarded the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy as WHL Player of the Season and, as in the previous year, was elected to the WHL (West) First All-Star Team.

After he failed to join the Blue Jackets' NHL roster at the beginning of the 2015/16 season, he was first sent to their farm team, the Lake Erie Monsters , in the American Hockey League . In mid-March 2016, the Dane was called up for the first time in the NHL squad and scored his first two goals in the top division of North America in his second game. For the upcoming AHL playoffs, the attacker returned to the Monsters and won the Calder Cup with the team at the end . He himself was the top scorer of the playoffs with 10 goals and received as a result the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as MVP of the playoffs.

With the start of the 2017/18 season, Bjorkstrand finally established himself in the Blue Jackets line-up and scored 40 scorer points in his first full NHL season.

International

Bjorkstrand represented his home country Denmark for the first time at the U20 World Junior Championship in 2012 . There the striker was used in all six games alongside his older brother Patrick . He scored his two tournament goals in the relegation round in the games against Switzerland and Latvia . However, the Danes lost both games by one goal and were relegated to Division IA. There they rose again two years later and thus participated again in the top division of the U20 World Cup 2015 , with Bjorkstrand being part of the team at every tournament.

A little later he made his senior debut at the 2015 World Cup and completed three appearances during the tournament.

Achievements and Awards

International

Career statistics

Status: end of the 2018/19 season

Regular season Playoffs
season team league Sp T V Pt SM Sp T V Pt SM
2010/11 Herning Blue Fox U20 league 11 13 6th 19th 2 6th 1 7th 8th 0
2010/11 Herning Blue Fox 1st division - - - - - 1 0 0 0 0
2011/12 Herning Blue Fox 1st division 5 1 2 3 0 - - - - -
2011/12 Herning Blue Fox AL-Bank Ligaen 36 13 13 26th 10 10 1 2 3 4th
2012/13 Portland Winterhawks WHL 65 31 32 63 10 21st 8th 11 19th 4th
2013/14 Portland Winterhawks WHL 69 50 59 109 36 21st 16 17th 33 8th
2014/15 Portland Winterhawks WHL 59 63 55 118 35 17th 13 12 25th 10
2015/16 Lake Erie Monsters AHL 51 17th 12 29 10 17th 10 6th 16 2
2015/16 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 12 4th 4th 8th 0 - - - - -
2016/17 Cleveland Monsters AHL 37 14th 12 26th 6th - - - - -
2016/17 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 26th 6th 7th 13 6th 5 0 1 1 0
2017/18 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 82 11 29 40 9 6th 1 2 3 0
2018/19 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 77 23 13 36 8th 10 2 3 5 0
1st division overall 5 1 2 3 0 1 0 0 0 0
WHL overall 193 144 146 290 81 59 37 40 77 22nd
AHL total 88 31 24 55 16 17th 10 6th 16 2
NHL overall 197 44 53 97 23 21st 3 6th 9 0

International

Represented Denmark at:

year team event result Sp T V Pt SM
2012 Denmark U20 World Cup 10th place 6th 2 0 2 0
2012 Denmark U18 World Cup 10th place 6th 4th 3 7th 0
2013 Denmark U20 World Cup Div. IA 3rd place 5 5 3 8th 2
2014 Denmark U20 World Cup Div. IA 1st place 5 4th 2 6th 2
2015 Denmark U20 World Cup 8th place 5 4th 1 5 2
2015 Denmark WM 14th place 3 0 0 0 2
2016 Denmark Olympic qualification 3rd place 3 0 1 1 0
2018 Denmark WM 10th place 7th 1 2 3 0
Juniors overall 17th 11 6th 17th 2
Men overall 13 1 3 4th 2

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; 1  play-downs / relegation )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Blue Jackets reduce training camp roster to 35 players , Columbus Blue Jackets, September 25, 2015
Columbus Blue Jackets logo
Squad of Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2019/20 season
personal data
SURNAME Bjorkstrand, Oliver
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish ice hockey player
DATE OF BIRTH April 10, 1995
PLACE OF BIRTH Herning , Denmark