Number:52
Age:21
Birth date:June 1, 1999
Birthplace:Nykoping, Sweden
Height, weight: 6-0, 190
Stats: 56 GP, 10-10-20, 1.7 point shares, 50.66 xGF% at 5-on-5 per Natural Stat Trick
Contract: Signed through 2021-22 season (Two years remaining before RFA status)
If history was any indication, Emil Bemstrom probably expected more out of his NHL debut than he got in the end.
That's because Bemstrom had as impressive a rookie season in the Swedish Hockey League as one could have expected in 2018-19. After coming up through the Leksands junior system, Bemstrom made his debut in Sweden's top league that season and blew away the competition, leading the entire league at 19 years old with 23 goals in 47 games among his 35 points. He was the first teenager to ever lead the league in scoring and just the eighth to score 20-plus goals in a campaign.
It was enough to draw a lot of attention from those in the hockey world, including the Blue Jackets, who took him in the fourth round of the 2017 draft. An impressive World Junior Championships also helped, as Bemstrom played on the Swedish team at that year's event and scored four goals in five games.
So as he came over to North America to make his NHL debut with the Blue Jackets in 2019-20, Bemstrom had to feel confident when it came to scoring goals. While they ended up coming at a much slower pace at the sport's highest level, as he finished with 10 in 56 games, Bemstrom acquitted himself well given his age and continues to have a bright future ahead of him.
Entering the season: As the Blue Jackets looked to replace some high-scoring forwards, Bemstrom figured to be someone who could add some offense after a historic run of production as a rookie in the Swedish Hockey League. He would be just a 20-year-old rookie, so expectations weren't too high, but Bemstrom was an intriguing prospect coming into the season.
Season recap:While Bemstrom took little time to start putting pucks in the net at the SHL level, it took a little longer for him to do so in the NHL. In fact, 15 games into his CBJ career, Bemstrom had zero goals and two assists.
But he got on the board quickly from there, notching three goals in five games. That might be a hallmark for Bemstrom, that the goals come in bunches, as he had a similar hot streak down the stretch when he put five pucks in the net in an eight-game span including three in three games in late February.
At that time, Bemstrom said he was drafted to be a goal scorer so he needed to score goals, and that outburst came at a key point in the season when the banged-up Blue Jackets needed offense.
But the bigger battle for the Swedish forward throughout the season was playing a full 200-foot game. While he was never a healthy scratch -- the 14 games he missed were because of an oblique injury suffered Dec. 7 at Florida -- he did spend much of the campaign learning what he had to do to play consistently at the NHL level.
"It is a process for him to understand how important it is to play away from the puck," head coach John Tortorella said. "I think it's been a major struggle for him as far as puck battles, but we're going to give him an opportunity. The puck follows him a little bit as far as scoring the goals."
Bemstrom said he understood that and enjoyed his first year at the NHL level learning what it took to play with the world's best.
"It's a lot about the timing, I think," he said. "It's hard to explain. But I feel like the positioning, you have to be where the game plan is or we're going to get a goal against us. I've been trying to work on it every day. I've been talking to all the coaches and they are teaching me. I think it's going the right way."
