Anders Bjork sent to Providence with Bruins ‘living in the salary cap world'

Share

BRIGHTON, Mass. — The Bruins announced that Anders Bjork was being assigned to Providence after Tuesday night’s strong season debut. But have no fear, Bruins fans — the 23-year-old Bjork is anticipated to be back playing with the NHL club as soon as Saturday’s showdown with the St. Louis Blues as the transaction was about salary cap savings.

NHL teams enjoy daily cap savings when players such as Bjork, up on emergency recall serving as injury replacements, are returned to Providence, and it can be a common practice when those teams are bumping up close to the salary cap. The Bruins are in good shape right now, but that’s because players like John Moore and Kevan Miller are currently on injured reserve and not counting against Boston’s cap number.

So essentially Bjork wasn’t practicing with the Bruins on Wednesday for salary cap reasons, and will instead practice with Providence as the Bruins aren’t playing again for three days.

“Krejci is back out on the injury ice (ahead of practice) and [Joakim] Nordstrom was back on the ice full participation today, so a little bit of it is living in the salary cap world,” said Bruce Cassidy in explaining the move. “He did enough to certainly get another look. I can’t guarantee that it’s going to be Saturday, but that’s where we’re at right now.”

While Cassidy wasn’t going to make any guarantees days prior to the game against the Blues, it’s a pretty safe bet that Bjork will be back for the Blues based on the way he played.

Bjork played 13 plus minutes in Tuesday night’s win over the Maple Leafs with four shots on net and earned plenty of postgame praise from Cassidy. He’s also clearly elevated his play in Providence, where he’d posted three goals and eight points in seven games for the P-Bruins to start this year after being one of the last players cut from NHL training camp.

With Karson Kuhlman out for at least a month with a fractured right tibia, the expectation is that Bjork will be up with the Bruins as long as he continues playing with the speed, assertion and confidence that he’s exhibited this entire season since all the way back in training camp.  

Click here to download the new MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Celtics easily on your device.

Contact Us