https://novacapsfans.com/2020/10/08/a-closer-look-at-capitals-2020-draft-pick-garin-bjorklund/

Fantasy Summary

A confident and athletic goalie with an excellent toolkit


Observations

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July 2024 – With Bjorklund being back playing from missing pretty much a full season due to a back injury, he was eased into playing in the ECHL taking a 1B role. He played in 27 games, posted a 14-11-1 record and a 0.882 save percentage. All in all that is a great rebound season for Bjorklund and one he will look to build off of. It is likely he will get the bulk of the starts for the Sting Rays in 2024-25 as he should be the main netminder there. A full season after working out all the kinks previous should give a better projection for Bjorklund going forward. Pat Quinn

 

August 2023 – Bjorklund missed the entire 2023-24 season, aside from one game to end the season, with a mystery injury that was unreported until July. In September/October he “tweaked” his back in training camp, which lingered until the pain became too much. He ended up with herniated discs in his back that required surgery (full story here). Bjorklund will have a full off season of training and health as he looks to gear up for the 2023-24 season. He will be in tough to start in the AHL as Shepard will likely be the starter and Stevenson played a majority of ECHL play with Bjorklund out. He should be the split starter with the String Rays in the ECHL competing with Gibson for starts. Pat Quinn

 

February 2023 – Bjorklund has apparently been injured all season and finding information about it is minimal. Best I have found out is that he was on placed on IR in late October and has not played a game all season. It may be a back injury. Hoping for a speedy recovery and some (any?) information soon from the Capitals organization. Pat Quinn

 

October 2023 – It appears as though Bjorklund is done with the WHL and was assigned to the ECHL Sting Rays to play alongside Clay Stevenson. Pat Quinn

 

September 2022 – The Medicine Hat Tigers were the worst WHL team last season going 11-53-4 with eight of those wins coming from Bjorklund. Safe to say you cannot save a team like that no matter how good you are in net. The Capitals signed him to a three-year ELC on April 29 as the Capitals believe in him. If the Tigers improve, Bjroklund’s will be a reason why but they need to get him help, or the Capitals need to work to get him a new team. Pat Quinn

 

January 2022 – Bjorklund is having a tough first full WHL season playing for a poor Medicine Hat Tigers team. His record is 5-14-2 with an 0.893 sv%. The team itself is dead last in the WHL at 7-22-3 and the poor record is largely due to a poor team in front of him. He often stands out for a few big saves a game but ultimately cannot keep the opposition at bay the whole time. He has had some poor games too, as consistency with young goalies is always an issue. The Capitals have plenty of time for him to develop, so hopefully he can either move on to a better team, or a different league, soon. Pat Quinn

 

May 2021 – Bjorklund was able to get in 22 games during the uncertain 2020-2021 year. He played in four AJHL games and then managed to start 18 games again for the Medicine Hat Tigers of the AHL. Bjorklund managed to post a 0.921 save percentage for a Tigers’ team that can often serve up pizzas in the defensive zone. He has already improved over last season and he still likely has one more year in the WHL. Pat Quinn

 

October 2020 – The Capitals selected Bjorklund #179 overall. He is an athletic goalie with great conditioning who can make highlight reel saves with ease. Bjorklund may be another NHL starter goalie in the Capitals seemingly endless goalie factory. Pat Quinn

Attributes
Fantasy Upside 5.5
NHL Certainty 5.5
Country CAN
Position G
Roster Type Minors
Shoot/Glove Left
Date of Birth May 28, 2002
Height 6‘2”
Weight 174 lbs
Drafted 2020 Round 6; Overall: 179

Stats

 Season Team League GP GAA SVS%      Playoffs GP GAA SVS%
 2015-2016 Grande Peace Storm U15 AAAAEHL U1516 4.30 .885|      
 2016-2017 Calgary Bisons U15 AAAAEHL U1524 1.97 .918|Playoffs8 2.13 .917
  Team Calgary South Alberta Cup3 1.34 .960|      
 2017-2018 Calgary Buffaloes U18 AAAAEHL U1815 1.92 .913|Playoffs3 3.37 .889
  Team Alberta WHL Cup3 2.00 .878|      
 2018-2019 Team Blue U17-Dev- - -|      
  Calgary Buffaloes U18 AAAAEHL U1819 2.44 .909|Playoffs11 1.76 .934
  Medicine Hat TigersWHL2 2.50 .909|      
  Calgary Buffaloes U18 AAATelus Cup5 3.02 .900|      
  Calgary Buffaloes U18 AAAMacs Tournament1 2.00 .930|      
  Canada Black U17WHC-172 2.42 .919|      
 2019-2020 Medicine Hat TigersWHL28 2.91 .897|      
 2020-2021 Grande Prairie StormAJHL4 2.73 .936|      
  Medicine Hat TigersWHL18 2.60 .921|      
 2021-2022 Medicine Hat TigersWHL48 4.26 .877|      
 2022-2023 South Carolina StingraysECHL1 3.58 .857|      
 2023-2024 Hershey BearsAHL0 - -|      
  South Carolina StingraysECHL27 3.33 .882|      
 2024-2025 South Carolina StingraysECHL7 1.71 .943|      

Highlights