Swedish sensation finally finding his groove

DALLAS — Viggo Bjorck couldn’t believe his eyes.

The Winnipeg Jets rookie forward had sent a backhand towards the empty net and was on the verge of being able to celebrate his first NHL goal when the puck bounced off the goal post late in Tuesday’s game against the New Jersey Devils.

There wasn’t much time to lament the missed opportunity as there was still a one-goal lead to protect.

Fortunately for the Winnipeg Jets, Kyle Connor sealed the win with an empty-net goal of his own, allowing Bjorck to breathe a sigh of relief in the waning moments of the 4-2 triumph.

“At first, you’re thinking, ‘Oh my God, did it really go off the post?’ You get back into the game right away and it’s like, ‘Please don’t let the Devils score,’” Bjorck said before the Jets faced the Dallas Stars on Thursday.

“Now that they didn’t score and we won, I can easily let it go, but it would have been harder if they had gone down and scored. You just laugh about it.”

Laughter is one of many emotions the eighth-overall pick of the 2026 draft has been able to enjoy during the first quarter of his first NHL season with the Jets.

“There have been a lot of cool experiences,” said Bjorck. “First game, outdoor game, the comeback win against Montreal. It’s definitely something you don’t take for granted.”

The Swedish sensation burst onto the scene with much fanfare, first winning a gold medal for his country at the 2026 World Junior Hockey Championship in Minnesota back in January, then playing a prominent role at the men’s world championship just a few months later.

For a team searching to solve an issue at second-line centre, Bjorck looked like a prime candidate to fill the role. And although he’s shifted to right wing recently, Bjorck will likely slide back over to his natural position at some point since the temporary move was made to lighten the load for the youngest player in the NHL.

Sure, there have been some trying times as well, including the nine-game losing streak (0-7-2) the Jets endured and an individual offensive drought that stretched to 17 games before he secured his first NHL point.

But Bjorck has found his groove since then and was riding a three-game point streak (four assists) into Thursday’s game.

One of those points included a lucky bounce as a pass from Neal Pionk caromed off his skate and went right back to the Jets defenceman, who quickly found Morgan Barron for a one-timer that found the back of the net.

“It was a little bit of a charity assist,” said Bjorck. “You won’t complain about those. You take what you can get. You’re trying to get out there and help as much as you can.”

Charity assist or not, this was an example of Bjorck going to the hard area in front of the net and drawing a couple of defenders to him, which helped create the lane for Pionk to feed the puck over to Barron.

It’s also a reminder that things have a way of evening out when you do the right things on a regular basis.

By getting on the board with the assist on Mark Scheifele’s goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Bjorck was unable to unlock a bit more of his creativity, which was on display with the deft touch pass on the power play to Brayden Yager to set up Yager’s first NHL goal.

Bjorck was asked if he felt he would have been able to make a pass like that one if he hadn’t snapped out of his slump a few days earlier.

“I mean, that’s a tough question,” he said. “I don’t really know how to answer it. I feel like maybe you get more into the game and you’re thinking more like yourself. But you try to lean on your instincts as much as possible. Sometimes (the pass) goes through and you get the point and sometimes it doesn’t.”

As for trying to erase the goose egg in the goal column, Bjorck isn’t overly frustrated.

“There are good goalies in this league,” he said. “I’ve just got to find a way to put the puck in the net.”

Even throughout Bjorck’s offensive funk he was earning the trust of the coaching staff with his play away from the puck.

“He was generating a lot of good looks and making so many good plays. But he does so many things away from the puck on the detail aspect of the game and it’s really hard to teach those things,” said Jets captain Adam Lowry, who has recently been playing alongside Bjorck and Alex Iafallo. “For them to have (the details) pretty dialled at 18, that’s pretty special. The next questions were about the offence. Everyone wants to check the boxscore and see the impact they had on the game.

“In this room, we knew that it was going to come. We weren’t worried about it. He wins his battles, he creates looks for himself and his linemates, so eventually he was going to be rewarded. It’s nice to see them come in a few consecutive games and in some key moments.”

The beauty of working through the early-season adversity was that Bjorck didn’t let any frustration seep into his game and he wasn’t overwhelmed by the spotlight that was placed on him, given the lofty expectations.

“You can put a lot of internal pressure on yourself and he obviously has a ton of external pressure, coming in and being a high draft pick,” said Lowry.

“With where the organization envisions him, you can start putting more pressure on yourself if you don’t start seeing those results materialize. It was great for him to get his first one because it took a little bit of weight off his shoulders. Now he can just go out and do what he’s been doing. He’s continued to build his game.”

While that’s still a work in progress, the signs suggest Bjorck is trending upwards.

“Like I’ve said from the beginning, he’s got a good hockey mind and he recognizes and reads plays well,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel.

“He had to do some heavy lifting through the middle of the ice and this (move to the wing) has allowed him to play a big role, going against other team’s top lines. He’ll work his way back to the middle sometime, but we wanted his confidence to stay high. He’s getting some points, but his game is a really good game for a young player.”

The Jets are hosting the mentor’s trip this week, which means Bjorck’s father Jesper has joined him for his games in Dallas and Chicago.

“He’s someone that has always been a big part of the journey here,” said Bjorck of his father. “It’s fun to spend some time with him on the road and for him to see what everyday life is like (in the NHL). To be on the private jet and stuff like that.”

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