On Saturday, the Tampa Bay Lightning made it official as Coach Jon Cooper confirmed that Oliver Bjorkstrand will miss their opening series against the Florida Panthers. The 30-year-old forward has been out since April 11, and was originally ruled out “week-to-week” so it’s not a total shock that he won’t be back. Still, it’s a bit of a blow to the Lightning’s offense as they will now have to rely a little bit more on a couple of rookies as they take on the defending Stanley Cup champions.
Bjorkstrand was acquired at the trade deadline with the hopes that he could provide some depth scoring at 5v5 as well as on the power play where he could add a much-needed right-handed shot to a unit that skews a little left at times.