During both of his lengthy rehabs, Bjork tried to use the downtime as a positive and made it a point to try to study up on the areas of his game that he felt were lacking.
"It's tough to watch hockey games, but that's something that you can do to learn and see other players and hopefully incorporate that into your game when you become healthy," said Bjork. "You definitely want to keep improving because we're fortunate enough to play this game and we have to make our opportunities count no matter what challenges we face."
As such, Bjork is trying to view this training camp as somewhat of a refresh. After being limited during last year's camp, the 6-foot, 190-pound left shot is grateful to be entering the season with a clean bill of health.
"I was going into [last year's] camp unsure…I hadn't really been able to skate much before camp. They didn't want to rush me into stuff," said Bjork. "I think it's good mentally to be not feeling rushed or anything like that. I'm trying to be patient with it and keep working on improving my game and be the best player I can."
The first step in getting his game back on track will be this weekend's Prospects Challenge, which begins Friday afternoon in Buffalo. With 50 NHL games already under his belt, Bjork enters the four-team exhibition tournament with a leg up on his fellow youngsters.
"I think for him, this is a good opportunity for him to get some game play," said Bruins Player Development Coordinator Jamie Langenbrunner. "It's been a long time since he's played. Him and I talked quite a bit this summer about that, that this was a good opportunity for him to do that. We expect him to be a good player this weekend.
"He should be. He should be noticeable. But it's more about getting his timing down, get in some game action…it will be good for him, that next step in his process of getting game ready."
And when Bjork returns to Boston next week for the opening of main camp, that opportunity will - once again - be waiting for him.
"It's definitely exciting," said Bjork. "I think all the young guys are excited about that. As we've seen here, young guys can make the roster and make an impact, which is pretty cool…I think that's something that we keep in the back of our minds."