Oliver Bjorkstrand on Blue Jackets' trade with Kraken: 'It was a little bit of a shocker'
Oliver Bjorkstrand made two major commitments during the same week in January 2021.
The first was getting engaged to his girlfriend, Jill, who became his wife in mid-July. The second happened four days later, when Bjorkstrand bucked the trend of key Blue Jackets players leaving Columbus by agreeing to a five-year contract extension worth $27 million. The deal began last season, when Bjorkstrand led Columbus in goals for the third straight year and proudly wore an alternate captain ‘A’ for the first time.
It was also his final season with Columbus. The Blue Jackets dealt Bjorkstrand to the Seattle Kraken on July 22 for the sole purpose of removing his $5.4 million salary-cap charge from their payroll in lieu of massive contracts doled out to stars Johnny Gaudreau and Patrik Laine.
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“After the signing of Gaudreau, I could see that if they signed ‘Patty,’ I figured somebody had to go,” said Bjorkstrand. “I knew it was a possibility. … I guess I didn’t look closely enough (at) the situation of (rookies) coming up and future signings and so on, and where they’re at (with the salary cap), so I wouldn’t say I expected that phone call. It was a little bit of a shocker getting that call.”
Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen actually made multiple calls.
“I was on my honeymoon in the middle of the bushes in South Africa,” said Bjorkstrand during a Tuesday video conference. “I was in the middle of nowhere, and I saw a few missed calls and figured I’d have to call back and hear what it was. I kind of figured what the phone call was about. We’d just got back from dinner and I was about to head to bed. So, yeah, that was interesting.”
It was also numbing.
Bjorkstrand, 27, was one of Kekalainen’s pet projects after selecting the undersized forward in the third round (No. 89) of his first draft as the Jackets’ GM. Watching Bjorkstrand transform into a top-six NHL scoring forward wasn't without its bumpy moments, but it was rewarding for both sides.
Bjorkstrand got stronger, off the ice and on the puck, and Kekalainen enjoyed the fruits of a solid 2013 draft class topped by Bjorkstrand and Alexander Wennberg, who was selected 14th overall as the first of three Columbus first-round picks.
Wennberg, 27, spent the first five years of his NHL career with the Blue Jackets before Kekalainen bought out his contract in October 2020 to create cap space needed to guard against a potential offer sheet on former center Pierre-Luc Dubois, who requested a trade during his first foray into restricted free agency.
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Dubois, a good friend of Bjorkstrand, agreed to a two-year bridge deal mainly to drum up trade suitors and Kekalainen wound up dealing him early in the 2020-21 season to the Winnipeg Jets for Laine and center Jack Roslovic.
Laine’s new $34.8 million contract, signed a couple of hours before Bjorkstrand was traded, was the final straw leading to the Bjorkstrand trade. Gaudreau’s seven-year contract, worth $68.25 million, was the biggest reason — along with a trade market that heavily favored teams with ample cap space.
Seattle, one of those teams, capitalized by forcing the Blue Jackets to part with Bjorkstrand rather than taking older veterans like Gustav Nyquist and Jakub Voracek. The Kraken landed a top-six forward in his prime, who has four years left on a contract with an affordable cap charge within their payroll structure.
“I, personally, signed a five-year deal (with the Blue Jackets) because I wanted to be a part of a team,” said Bjorkstrand, whose extension was followed by multi-year deals signed by captain Boone Jenner, defenseman Zach Werenski, goalie Elvis Merzlikins, center Jack Roslovic and center Sean Kuraly. “At the time, things were a little bit up in the air, as far as where the team was going, but I really liked being in Columbus, and I had confidence that we were going to get back on track and get together a good team — and I still think they’re on the right track.”
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It’s just not the way he or Kekalainen envisioned his Blue Jackets run ending.
“The plan for me was, for sure, that I wanted to be there,” Bjorkstrand said. “I wouldn’t have signed a deal like that if I didn’t feel comfortable and believe in the organization … but things happen. When a guy like Gaudreau comes up, they obviously take their shot and try to get him, and it put them in a tough position. I think it was (tough) for them, but it is a business, and decisions like that have to be made.”
Kekalainen put it bluntly.
“It is the ugly part of the business,” he said. “That’s what you have to call it. The decision had to be made. You can easily calculate the cap space around the whole league and there were no good options really available for us. This was the best of the ‘no-good options’ for us to become cap compliant. This had to be done.”
Bjorkstrand and his wife are now off to Seattle, where he’ll be reunited with Wennberg, who signed with the Kraken last offseason.
The Kraken also have a talented young center in Morgan Geekie plus a pair of highly-regarded center prospects in Matty Beniers, the 2021 second overall pick, and Shane Wright, taken fourth overall this year.
“After some time, when I had some time to think about it, I started to get really excited about it,” said Bjorkstrand, who is familiar with the Pacific Northwest after playing three years of junior hockey with the Portland Winterhawks. “Seattle’s been in the league now for one year, so I would assume there’s a lot of buzz around the team and excitement about a new team. I’m ready for this journey and excited to get there.”
As for facing the Blue Jackets on Jan. 28 in Seattle and returning to Nationwide Arena on Mar. 3, Bjorkstrand is eager for those games too.
“I don’t know what it’s going to be like,” he said. “I’m excited. It’ll be fun. It’ll be weird. I have a lot of good memories from Columbus, and I’m sure most guys who play a decent amount of time with a club, it’s a little bit odd playing that first game — especially that first game at home ... or your old home. So, yeah, I’ll have it marked on the calendar. I’m ready to play against them at that point.”
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets' trade of Oliver Bjorkstrand to Kraken 'a shocker'
