The Pittsburgh Penguins have re-signed one of their young restricted free agents, inking Kasper Bjorkqvist to a one-year contract. The two-way deal will carry an NHL salary of $750K. Penguins assistant GM Patrik Allvin released a short statement on the deal:
Kasper is an honest, responsible two-way player who is very coachable and understands the game well. We felt that it was important for Kasper to play in Finland last year after his injuries, and he found a lot of success there, which was good for his development. He has all of the intangibles to develop into an NHL player.
Bjorkqvist, 24, spent the majority of the 2020-21 season in Finland, scoring 26 points in 44 games for KooKoo. Originally selected 61st overall in 2016, he’s played just 11 games at the AHL level to this point thanks to a knee injury and the pandemic, but is still obviously valued enough by the Penguins to sign to a new deal.
Even though he’s already 24 now, Bjorkqvist won’t actually qualify for Group VI UFA status next summer. That means the Penguins will control his rights for at least one more year after this season. If he isn’t playing regularly and contributing at the AHL level a year from now though, he’s an obvious non-tender candidate.
Is this the guy who can bench press a tractor, more or less?