The Chicago Blackhawks have traded for forward Anders Bjork in exchange for future considerations, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
Bjork is a name most hockey fans have probably forgotten about. He has played the entire 2022-23 season for the Rochester Americans in the AHL. In Rochester, he has eight goals and 25 points in 42 games with a +5 rating. He also played in one game for the Sabres this year.
Buffalo will not be receiving any assets in return, aside from cap and roster space. Bjork is in the final year of a three-year, $4.8 million contract he signed with the Boston Bruins.
The 26-year-old winger was originally selected in the fifth round of the 2014 NHL Draft by the Bruins. He went on to play the next three seasons for the University of Notre Dame. He scored 40 goals and 109 points in 115 games there.
The following season he made his NHL debut and scored four goals and 12 points in 30 games for the Bruins. Bjork bounced around between the NHL and AHL over the next couple of seasons, splitting his time between Boston and Providence.
He was then a part of the trade that sent Taylor Hall to Boston in April 2021. Hall and Curtis Lazar were sent to Boston in exchange for Bjork and a 2021 second-round pick. Bjork never really found his footing in the NHL and after a couple of middling seasons in Buffalo, they finally decided to send him down to the AHL for a full year.
Bjork is tied for eighth on the Rochester Americans in points with prospect Isak Rosen. As the Sabres have a plethora of young talent in their organization it was very unlikely that Bjork would get another legitimate chance in the NHL.
Bjork will likely get a better opportunity in Chicago. In his career, he has 24 goals and 53 points in 212 NHL games.
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