Combine Notebook - 06.06.26

BUFFALO — Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final lands in Vegas tonight but for a few hours Saturday morning, the LECOM HarborCenter was the centre of the hockey world. A total of 90 prospective NHLers wrapped up a busy week along the Lake Erie shoreline with a gamut of fitness tests and media interviews.

We've curated a selection of tidbits from Saturday's session in this Combine Notebook!

Björck Debut

Centreman Viggo Björck (pictured above) has had quite the spring, and that's after he put up 20 points in nine games to help Djurgardens win the Swedish U20 title for the second year running.

His rookie pro season - with the Stockholm outfit's SHL side - netted six goals and 15 points, before the 2026 NHL Draft's No. 4-ranked International Skater became the youngest player ever to represent Sweden at the IIHF World Championship. 

And he excelled on the world stage, recording six points in nine games for the Swedes alongside fellow draft prospect Ivar Stenberg.

"You always want to be on the ice, trying to help your team," said Björck. "Just being there is a privilege.

"It’s a huge thing for me, but obviously super-cool to be able to play as well."

Also super-cool, a chance encounter with Canadian hockey royalty off the ice, that led to a special gift for Björck and his family.

"Of course a cool moment," Björck said of his meeting with Sidney Crosby. "I promised my brother before that I would ask for a stick if I got the chance."

And yes, he got a stick, and it's safely on the way back to the family home in Sweden.

But Björck was pretty affable when asked by the media throng about some of his countrymen - notably Stenberg - but the 5-foot-9 pivot shared his thoughts on Djurgardens teammate Theo Stockselius, too.

"Big guy, super-skilled and always has been that (way)," Björck told Flames TV of Stockselius, who signed his entry-level contract with Calgary in May after being selected in the second round of last year's draft. 

"I’ve known him for quite a while. A super-skilled, smart player, does a lot of the right things out there."

Simas' Journey

Simas Ignatavicius might be the most well-traveled of the 90 prospects on hand in Buffalo this week. 

And he's hoping his world tour will help put Lithuanian hockey on the map. Only two players from the small European nation have played in the NHL - defenceman Darius Kasparaitis and forward Dainius Zubrus - and Zubrus was the last player from Lithuania selected in the NHL Draft when he was picked at No. 15 by the Flyers in 1996.

Ignatavicius, though, has been plying his trade in Switzerland for the past six years, and the 6-foot-3 forward is coming off his first pro season on a Geneve-Servette squad that also included ex-Flames Markus Granlund and Josh Jooris.

But moving away from home at a young age wasn't easy.

"At the age of 12 I went by myself to Switzerland," Ignatavicius explained. "I lived with a billet family for three years. For the last two years, I lived with my parents, they wanted to come over to Switzerland for quite some time."

But his hometown of Vilnius and Switzerland weren't the only two places Ignatavicius called home. The 18-year-old was born in Memphis, Tennessee, after his family spent time in the city when his father, Mantas, retired from a pro basketball career that included three NCAA seasons at the University of High Point in North Carolina.

The younger Ignatavicius explains his dad - a point guard - wanted him to play basketball, but a chance encounter with hockey as a three-year-old set him on a different path.

"One day, I was having a pizza with my dad inside the mall, true story," he relayed Saturday. "There was a practice going on at the same time. I saw it and was like, ‘Oh, what is that? I would like to try it.’

"I went to practice once with the team, and I fell in love with it."

Why the mall, you ask? Well, according to Ignatavicius, there are only three ice rinks in all of Lithuania, with the rest of the country's ice sheets set up in shopping centres.

And while he couldn't recall what type of pizza he and his father were enjoying day, he was quick to mention that it was absolutely NOT Hawaiian.

"Never," he grinned.

"Probably a margherita or something."

Flames Family Ties

Defenceman Charlie Morrison just wrapped up his second season with the QMJHL's Quebec Remparts and heads into the NHL Draft ranked No. 39 among North-American skaters. 

The physical, defensively-minded blueliner improved his plus-minus rating by 33 points year over year between 2024-25 and 2025-26, helping Quebec reach the second round of the QMJHL playoffs this past spring. 

And while he's used to wearing the Remparts red on the ice, his family lineage features a different shade more familiar to Flames fans.

Morrison's great-uncle is goaltender Dan Bouchard, who tended twine during each of the club's eight seasons in Atlanta and made the move to Calgary before being dealt to his hometown Quebec Nordiques during the 1980-81 campaign.

Only Miikka Kiprusoff and Mike Vernon have won more times than the 168 victories Bouchard took home with the Flames, and for Morrison, having Bouchard in his corner has been a source of inspiration.

"Having someone like that in your family, it’s pretty special," he said. "Just kind of knowing that it (an NHL career) is possible, seeing that at a young age definitely helps, seeing that you can get there and that it’s not unachievable. 

"I’ve definitely talked to him about some hockey stuff, it’s pretty cool hearing about his past. He’s definitely someone special, not everyone has someone like that in their pipeline growing up."