by Jesse Liebman | AHL On The Beat
Garin Bjorklund is proof that development in professional hockey does not always come in the form of a straight line.
The goaltender – a sixth-round pick of the Washington Capitals in 2020 – made his American Hockey League debut for the Hershey Bears on Wednesday night, almost two years after he got into his first ECHL contest with the South Carolina Stingrays.
“A smile kind of broke out on my face and I was ready to rock and roll,” Bjorklund recalled of getting the nod for his first start with the Bears. “I didn’t think it was necessarily going to happen with game one, but I’m just happy it did.”
But Bjorklund could have likely reached both milestones far earlier if not for a pair of herniated discs in his lower back discovered just as he was beginning training camp with the Washington Capitals in the fall of 2022. That resulted in surgery followed by a lengthy rehab over several months that essentially wiped out what would have been his rookie season in the pro ranks. Instead, Bjorklund had to wait until the very last game of the 2022-23 campaign to get into game action, making 24 saves for South Carolina in a 5-4 shootout win over Jacksonville on April 15, 2023.
Despite the limited sample size of work, the Capitals’ goaltending development corps (comprised of Bears associate goaltending coach Juha Lehtola, Capitals director of minor league operations Jason Fitzsimmons, goaltending coach Scott Murray, player development staffer Olie Kolzig, and the more recent addition of Braden Holtby) was pleased with Bjorklund’s progress confronting a major early career hurdle.
“First of all, he was given the option to go home to rehab, and he stayed around that first full year with the team (in South Carolina), and has proven to be a team-first guy,” Lehtola said. That was one thing that impressed us, how determined he was to come back and stick around with the team.”
Bjorklund’s first full season of pro hockey in 2023-24 was spent entirely with the Stingrays, where he went 14-11-1 in 27 appearances with a 3.33 goals-against average and an .882 save percentage – numbers that didn’t necessarily stand out amongst his peers.
“Getting drafted and coming in from junior – living by himself, preparing meals for the first time, and not billeting with anyone or living at home for the first time,” Lehtola said, “it was an adjustment. That was the real test for him – how can he adjust his game to pro hockey.
“And then a huge summer mentally too. Realizing what it’s like and preparing for the season ahead, then making those realizations and adjusting his game a little bit, and it’s paid off.”
Bjorklund’s numbers this season (21-4-3, 2.02 GAA, .927 save percentage) as part of a three-man rotation with Mitch Gibson and Seth Eisle on a powerhouse South Carolina squad are a testament to how far he’s come. His stats were among the league leaders at the time of his re-assignment to Hershey earlier this week. And with Clay Stevenson unavailable due to an upper-body injury and a weekend home-and-home set looming against Utica, the Hershey brain trust felt the Wednesday tilt in Bridgeport be a good time for the 22-year-old to finally get that first taste of AHL action.
“I think it was just a matter of time,” said Lehtola, who frequently travels to North Charleston to work with South Carolina’s netminders as well. “We’ve been fortunate that the goalies have been largely healthy throughout the organization for the last two to three seasons. The opportunity that might’ve been there because of injuries didn’t present itself before.”
The organization’s faith was rewarded as Bjorklund turned aside 26 shots to backstop the Bears to a 4-1 win over the Islanders, including denying Bridgeport’s Adam Beckman and Liam Foudy on the same sequence in the third period.
After earning second-star honors and receiving the ceremonial post-win bear head from teammate Hudson Thornton, a sweat-soaked Bjorklund was quick to give praise to his teammates for spotting him a three-goal cushion in the first period.
“The road’s never going to be easy. There’s always going to be hills and valleys, so just to get the win here today, it means a lot,” Bjorklund said. “I’m just excited to share it with these guys.”
“He just played a really calm game,” head coach Todd Nelson said after the contest. “He looks so much more compact and confident than he did at the start of the year in training camp, but he made some huge saves. He made the game look easy.”
In addition to recognizing the friends and family back in Alberta who had tuned into the AHLTV on FloHockey broadcast, Bjorklund was quick to point out he couldn’t have reached this stage of career without some of his biggest supporters in the organization in his corner.
“There’s been so many people in the Capitals organization who have helped me grow and helped me succeed and develop my game,” Bjorklund said. “Coming into my first year of pro, then having back surgery and last year not feeling fully myself, and this year finally feeling comfortable with my game, there’s been so many people like Juha, Olie, Fitzy, Braden Holtby, Scotty Murray – they’ve all played such a big part in my development and helping with my path to where I am right now.
“Even Clay (Stevenson) and Gibby (Mitch Gibson), two goalie partners that I’ve had that you can become good buddies with, you can compete against, and you can also go for lunch after. It’s just such an awesome, unique relationship that we have.”
With only 10 games left in the regular season, Bjorklund acknowledged that Hershey’s goaltending tandem of Shepard and Stevenson is firmly entrenched as the duo that will lead the Bears into the postseason as they seek a third consecutive Calder Cup championship.
“I would love to get another American League start if it’s part of this road trip or another before playoffs start for the Bears, but I’ll go back to South Carolina and take care of business there.”
It may have been only one game, but Lehtola is pleased with how his protege has seized his opportunity.
“If you earn a spot somewhere or a game somewhere, it’s up to you,” Lehtola said. “You’re given these opportunities but it’s ultimately up to them and how they perform, and he’s really shown that. I’m really happy that he got a chance.”
