Elite Prospects<\/p>\n With Djurg\u00e5rdens this season, Bj\u00f6rck had six goals and nine assists in 42 games. That might seem like nothing special, but it is more than above average production for a 17-year old playing his first professional season. In 2024-25, Bj\u00f6rck had 27 goals and 47 assists for Djurg\u00e5rdens\u2019s U20 juniors team. Draft eligible players who have seasons like Bj\u00f6rck\u2019s last one in juniors still end up pretty good prospects if they do that in their draft year (let alone their D-1), and he added a good professional season on top of it.<\/p>\n This was an important season for Djurg\u00e5rdens. After being promoted from the HockeyAllsvenskan league, they needed to stay above relegation territory. But aside from Bj\u00f6rck, Djurg\u00e5rdens had a good boost in the form of Jacob Josefson, who returned to the team after a four-years absence from hockey to help the team he once captained after leaving the NHL. With other NHL prospects in Anton Frondell and Victor Eklund, Djurgardens had a good mix of young talent and older veterans for their decent finish at ninth in the league table.<\/p>\n Bj\u00f6rck has been most recently ranked as follows, per his Elite Prospects page:<\/p>\n 4th by NHL Central Scouting (EU Skaters)6th by TSN (Button)6th by The Hockey News (Ferrari)6th by Sportsnet (Bukala)7th by Smaht Scouting8th by TSN (Peters)8th by McKeen\u2019s Hockey8th by Sportsnet (Cosentino)9th by Dobber Prospects12th by The Hockey News (Kennedy)<\/p>\n I am skipping the \u201cwhat others say about Bj\u00f6rck\u201d section today because I have found that a lot of evaluations of him available online are from preliminary rankings, and I do not enjoy using too-dated information. As we get closer to draft season, I am sure we will start seeing more full-on draft profiles on guys like him.<\/p>\n Usually, when we do these prospect profiles, I go looking for some shift-by-shift videos. I was able to get one for Bjorck<\/a>, but this one was a little different than usual. This was a playoff game! From just a couple weeks ago, here is Viggo playing in Djugarden\u2019s playoff series against the Malmo Redhawks. For a teenager just five days off his 18th birthday, playing in a tough league like the SHL, I was mainly looking for how he handled himself. You might expect the tempo and physicality to be different on that big sheet of ice, but there is still quite a lot of energy at hand.<\/p>\n Suffice to say, Viggo Bj\u00f6rck surprised me. I might have expected a skilled teenaged center to be a little more peripheral on the European ice, but he is very engaged. In just the first five minutes here, he is winning board battles, finishing checks, and holding his own in collisions. He draws a penalty at 3:13 (on a play that I think would not have led to a stoppage in the NHL), but still seems to get the better of the collision. I know these were his playoffs, but if he were to bring this type of energy right to the National Hockey League, fans of any team would quickly love him.<\/p>\n After a great defensive shift with the team down one towards the end of the second period, Bj\u00f6rck started his third period by winning another board battle against two opponents to send the puck below the net. After Bj\u00f6rck went to the net, Anton Frondell held the puck by the boards, just by the hash marks of the faceoff circle. With two teammates in Bj\u00f6rck and Eklund by the net, Frondell feeds a perfect centering play to Bj\u00f6rck, who scored his team\u2019s second game-tying goal of the night on the redirection!<\/p>\n This is important to note: he is 5\u201910\u201d and under 180 pounds. He\u2019s not filled out yet. But I still see someone who is strong on the boards. Bj\u00f6rck might keep his head down a bit too much at times, but he keeps his weight low and seems to come away with the puck a little quicker than his opponents. Defensively, one of the weaknesses I felt was apparent in his game here is actually something that might be easier for him on the smaller ice surface in North America. Bj\u00f6rck tries to be mindful of the passing lanes, but he often seems a little off when trying to intercept passes. Engaging physically and playing right up to the opponent seems more Bj\u00f6rck\u2019s style.<\/p>\n On the power play nine minutes into the video, Bj\u00f6rck has a couple entries broken up. On the third, he uses his wheels a little more to gain the zone cleanly, passing back to Eklund at the point on the backhand. This leads to a power play goal, with Bj\u00f6rck picking up a secondary assist. Here, Bj\u00f6rck seems to learn that going slow into the zone is not working, and he needs to beat the defenders the old fashioned way.<\/p>\n Towards the end of the third period, Bj\u00f6rck drew a tripping penalty, giving his team a man advantage going into overtime. They did not convert there, but Bj\u00f6rck was on the ice for another delayed penalty seven minutes into overtime. With the extra attacker, Bj\u00f6rck went to the front of the net and looked for redirections and deflections, but a couple of chances were turned aside before the puck was touched up. On the power play, Bj\u00f6rck set up from the left faceoff circle and worked the puck low to Victor Eklund. Eklund whipped it up to Anton Frondell, who hit the one-timer for a game-winning goal! Viggo Bj\u00f6rck put up three points in his very first SHL playoff game in a 3-2 overtime victory.<\/p>\n For a full highlight video, see below:<\/p>\n This will be Sunny Mehta\u2019s first draft with the New Jersey Devils, and it will be interesting to see what kind of players fall to him (or don\u2019t). As it is, I think Viggo Bj\u00f6rck should be selected before the Devils virtually (boo) go to the podium. But if Mehta has his eye on Bj\u00f6rck, he has a few things going for him. For starters, Bj\u00f6rck is small and European. In last year\u2019s NHL Draft, we saw General Managers around the league prioritize the size of players over their production potential. Since a different team will win the Stanley Cup this year, the copycat fad of the month may be a little different, but we will see when we get there.<\/p>\n But last season, the first player who was drafted at Viggo Bj\u00f6rck\u2019s height or shorter was Cullen Potter (5\u201910\u201d and 172 pounds) at 32nd overall by the Calgary Flames. Only two players under 6\u20190\u201d were drafted in the lottery: James Hagens (5\u201911\u201d and 186 pounds) and Benjamin Kindel (5\u201911\u201d and 180 pounds). So, despite his obvious skill and potential, Bj\u00f6rck will have to convince GMs that he is worth passing a high-ceiling 6\u20194\u201d center over, and they have been particularly unwilling to do that over the last couple of years.<\/p>\n Like I mentioned earlier, public draft models may have liked Bjork more this season had he stayed in juniors and dominated lesser competition. However, this is a good time to inject some personal logic into the evaluation. Below is a comparison from Byron Bader\u2019s Hockey Prospecting<\/a> of Viggo Bj\u00f6rck with the Devils\u2019 own Cody Glass. If you do not know, Hockey Prospecting uses an NHLe system to predict how many expected equivalent NHL points a season in a different league is worth. The SHL has one of the highest NHLe ratings in the world, and may be on par with the KHL above the AHL.<\/p>\n Byron Bader | Hockey Prospecting<\/p>\n An NHLe north of 30 in the player\u2019s draft year tends to lead to pretty high \u201cstar probabilities,\u201d which means a forward who produces over 57.5 points per 82 games throughout his career. Since Cody Glass tore up the WHL in his draft year, it didn\u2019t matter he was a little weaker the year prior. Add on the fact that he is pretty big, and that made him a lottery pick in his draft. For Bj\u00f6rck, though, had he just tacked on a few points to his 74 points in 42 games in the 2024-25 season in the J20 Nationell, he would have had a profile equivalent to Glass or better. I put a decent amount of stock into these sorts of broad evaluations, but we have to keep competition in mind. Bj\u00f6rck had a good season in a tough league. Often, players who do well in juniors and get promoted to a league like the SHL at his age are happy to chip in just a couple points over long stretches in fourth line minutes.<\/p>\n That aside, how would he fit with the Devils? Well, I think. We have talked and talked about how the Devils desperately need more center depth, and Bj\u00f6rck was often used in a center role for Djurg\u00e5rdens this season despite his age. How he plays that role is even more important. From the shift tape I watched in his first playoff game, it seems like Bj\u00f6rck is smart about not leaving the middle of the ice too often, which will be even more important in North America. He won his board battles more often than not, often beating two opponents for the puck. He is difficult to knock around in those areas because of his low center of gravity. Currently, the Devils\u2019 only great board worker is Nico Hischier. I think Bj\u00f6rck might be able to achieve a similar level (even if not quite as good) of proficiency at winning the puck in the NHL. From Lassi Alanen\u2019s European tracking project<\/a>, see how well-rounded his game is. At just 18 years old, he is one of the most well-rounded centers at five-on-five in the SHL.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-02-094303.png\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Hockey-Prospecting-Dashboard.png\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Story-1-1.png\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\n