With the completion of a final slate of three games on Wednesday (Jan. 31), the NHL has finally hit the 2024 All-Star break, with the festivities taking place in Toronto from Thursday night to Sunday evening.
The Seattle Kraken are represented in the All-Star Game by 28-year-old winger Oliver Bjorksrand, who is in the middle of his second season with the organization. His tally of 13 goals, 27 assists, and 40 points in 50 games either ranks first or second on the team, and he sits three assists and 18 points away from setting new career highs in those two categories.
Bjorksrand’s understated reaction to being named an All-Star went viral on social media, though most of us would also rather be on a beach than be the last selection in the All-Star draft. Despite his newfound notoriety, there’s no doubt that Bjorkstrand deserves to be named to the All-Star Game as the team’s primary representative, though the Kraken boast several players who could have earned a vote-in nod on merit.
Related: Seattle Kraken’s Playoff Hopes Fading As 2024 NHL All-Star Break Approaches
Vince Dunn (37 points in 46 games) is once again near the top of the defenseman scoring leaderboard, Jared McCann is scoring at a 33-goal pace, and goaltender Joey Daccord has single-handedly kept the team in the playoff race with a .921 save percentage (SV%) in 34 games. All three could have joined Bjorkstrand in Toronto this weekend, but none garnered enough support in the following voting period.
The Danish winger will be the lone member of the team flaunting his skills this weekend, and it’s an honor bestowed upon him after trudging through a disappointing debut season with the Kraken in 2022-23. Let’s dive in.
Bjorkstrand Bouncing Back Campaign After Underwhelming 2022-23 Season
Bjorkstrand’s move to the Kraken organization came on the heels of a career-best 28-goal, 57-point season with the Columbus Blue Jackets. He was traded to the Kraken for a pair of mid-round draft picks as a pending free agent in order for the Blue Jackets to clear cap space for the purposes of signing Johnny Gaudreau and Patrik Laine to contracts worth nearly $20 million total. The move was seen as baffling in analytical circles, given Bjorkstrand’s status as an advanced stats darling, especially because of the extremely low acquisition price.
The forward’s first season saw his scoring totals take a hit as he went from 28 goals to 20, and from 57 points to 45 as he navigated a lengthy 17-game scoreless drought. Even so, Bjorkstrand redeemed himself during the Kraken’s playoff run by scoring four goals and eight points over 14 games, including both goals in a 2-1 Game Seven win against the Colorado Avalanche in the first round.
The 2023-24 season has been a welcome return to form for Bjorkstrand. Not only have his surface-level box-score numbers experienced an uptick, but he’s carving out more dangerous opportunities at five-on-five.
Bjorkstrand is generating 3.34 high-danger chances per-60-minutes and 1.81 rebounds per-60, both full-season career-high rates at five-on-five. Further, Bjorkstrand’s 6.8 five-on-five shooting percentage (SH%) and 10% conversion rate in all situations are both career-lows in seasons in which he played at least half of the season, suggesting that his low individual tally of goals is the byproduct of bad luck.
Drawing penalties isn’t a talent that’s on display at the All-Star Game, nor is it part of the rubric that the league and voters grade against, but Bjorkstrand is one of the most disciplined players in the league. He ranks 37th among all skaters with a plus-nine penalty differential (one taken and 10 drawn), providing the Kraken with great positive value in terms of seeing a more favorable ratio of powerplay vs. penalty-killing opportunities.
Bjorkstrand’s offensive instincts and two-way prowess have made him a formidable piece of arguably the Kraken’s best forward line. In over 400 minutes alongside Yanni Gourde and Eeli Tolvanen, the Kraken’s most-utilized trio has accounted for 59.8% of the expected goals share (11th out of 68 lines with at least 150 minutes played), though their actual goals share (15 for and 15 against) isn’t as rosy in comparison.
Bjorkstrand Must Maintain Scoring Pace to Bolster Kraken’s Playoff Hopes
It’s no secret that the Kraken have a reputation around the NHL as lacking significant offensive firepower up front, and their results this season have done little to dissuade that notion.
Only four players have scored 10 goals or more this season, and it’s only those four (McCann, Bjorkstrand, Tolvanen, and Schwartz) who are on pace to hit the 20-goal benchmark by year’s end. The lack of scoring support puts much greater pressure on the defense and goaltending and, given the unpredictability of Daccord’s rise this season, could spell disaster if the journeyman netminder crashes down back to Earth.
At the time of this writing, the Kraken own a record of 21-19-10 (52 points in 50 games). They are two points back of the St. Louis Blues for the second and final Western Conference wildcard spot, though the Blues have a game in hand. Elsewhere, the Los Angeles Kings – in the top wildcard spot – have a four-point cushion with two games in hand.
The Kraken’s chances are dwindling, but a strong finish to the regular-season and from Bjorkstrand could be the deciding factor in clinching the second playoff appearance in franchise history. The odds aren’t great (MoneyPuck gives them a 42.9% chance at the postseason), but a well-timed surge could be just the ticket for one of the league’s best underdog stories.
Data courtesy of Natural Stat Trick and the NHL.
