The Washington Capitals have signed another prospect, this time inking Garin Bjorklund to a three-year entry-level contract. The young netminder played this season with the Medicine Hat Tigers, and signed an amateur tryout contract with the Hershey Bears earlier this month. The new entry-level contract will carry an average annual value of $843,333 and likely begins next season.
One might look at Bjorklund’s numbers in 2021-22 and wonder why the Capitals would even consider bringing him into the organization, but a huge part of his struggles was the poor play of the team around him. The Tigers put together one of the worst seasons in WHL history, winning just 11 of 63 games for a brutal 0.191 points percentage. The fact that Bjorklund even won eight games was a miracle, and his .877 save percentage in 48 appearances should be taken with a huge grain of salt.
Still, there’s obviously lots of work left to do for the 19-year-old netminder, who was a sixth-round pick in 2020. With a much more encouraging performance during the shortened 2020-21 season–and an impressive showing at last year’s development and training camp–Bjorklund will have to hope 2022-23, when he’s eligible for professional hockey, can be a jumping-off point for the rest of his career.
He’ll turn 20 in a month, meaning the Capitals could assign him to the AHL or ECHL next season to get him acclimated to the minor leagues. His contract will kick in regardless of where he plays, meaning he’ll be a restricted free agent in the summer of 2025.