Penguins A to Z: Kasper Bjorkqvist still has plenty to prove

With the Penguins in the midst of their offseason, the Tribune-Review is looking at all 49 players currently under NHL contracts to the organization in alphabetical order, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to top-six winger Jason Zucker.

Kasper Bjorkqvist

Position: Right winger

Shoots: Left

Age: 22

Height: 6-foot-1

Weight: 198 pounds

2020-21 AHL statistics: 44 games, 26 points (11 goals, 15 assists).

2020-21 Liiga statistics: FIve games, one point (one goal, zero assists).

Contract: Second year of a two-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $792,500. Pending restricted free agent this offseason.

Acquired: Second-round draft pick (No. 61 overall), June 25, 2016.

2020-21 season: Perhaps no one embodied the rush for NHL teams to loan their prospects to teams in Europe this past fall — while most North American leagues were on hiatus — in the pursuit of much-needed development more so than Kasper Bjorkqvist.

Well before everyone’s 2019-20 season came to an end in the spring of 2020 due to the pandemic, Bjorkqvist’s 2019-20 season came to an end in November of 2019 due to a knee injury.

So, by the time Bjorkqvist, a native of Finland, was loaned to KooKoo of the Liiga, the top-tier league in that country, in August of 2020, he had gone roughly 10 months between games or much in the way of on-ice training.

Early on in the Liiga season, Bjorkqvist looked every bit like a player who was worthy of a second-round pick in the NHL, as he had nine points (five goals, four assists) in his first 11 games while primarily serving as a left wing on the second line.

After going scoreless for Finland in the Karjala Tournament during early November, Bjorkqvist had a difficult time finding any offense in Liiga play as he was limited to one goal in seven games.

The Liiga shut down for roughly two weeks in early December due to covid-19 concerns. Once back on the ice, Bjorkqvist began to generate offense again with eight points (one goal, seven assists) in his next 12 games.

Bjorkqvist’s season was interrupted again in early January. After joining Finland’s national team for another tournament, Bjorkqvist and his teammates were quarantined for nearly a month after 12 unidentified members of the squad tested positive for covid-19.

By March, Bjorkqvist was cleared to play and finished the season with nine points (four goals, five assists) in his final 14 games of the regular season and finished fifth on KooKoo in scoring.

During the Liiga postseason, Bjorkqvist was scoreless in two games after KooKoo fell in the first round.

In late April, Bjorkqvist’s loan was terminated and he returned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Appearing in five American Hockey League games, he had one goal, a game-winner in a 2-1 road win against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on May 15.

After Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s season concluded, Bjorkqvist was recalled to the NHL roster as a “Black Ace” for the playoffs.

The future: Bjorkqvist enters this offseason as a restricted free agent and will likely re-sign as he is one of the organization’s top-10 prospects, admittedly by default due to the Penguins’ long-standing practice of dealing away future assets in the pursuit of winning in the immediate sense.

There’s a lot to like in what he can offer. He’s a strong, physical player with a fair amount of skill. Ideally, he’s a third-liner in the NHL who can create some havoc on the forecheck, mix things up with the opposition and chip in some offense.

But he has yet to play anything remotely close to a full professional season in North America. Heck, he hasn’t even played a full month professionally on this continent.

Bjorkqvist got some badly needed playing time this past season. But he still has plenty to prove.

Follow the Penguins all season long.