The Blue Jackets ' offseason "to-do" list appears to be complete.
Emil Bemstrom , a restricted free agent, has agreed to a two-year contract extension worth $1.8 million. The deal, which pays $900,000 per year, gives the enigmatic forward a new opportunity to prove himself with the Blue Jackets. Columbus selected Bemstrom in the 2017 draft (fourth round, No. 117) and brought him over from the Swedish Hockey League in 2019-20.
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But Bemstrom, 23, has only shown flashes of the scoring prowess that led to him setting a record in 2018-19 with Djurgardens, scoring the most goals (23) by a rookie in SHL history. After finishing with a scoring line of 23-12-35 in 47 games that season, he was named the SHL's rookie of the year and also garnered the Swedish junior hockey player of the year award.
Bemstrom headed to Columbus the following season , but has struggled with injuries and inconsistent play in his first three NHL campaigns. He has 19-17-36 in 117 games.
"Emil is a skilled and offensive forward who has the ability to find the back of the net with an accurate shot," Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said in a statement. "He is young and still developing, but we believe he has a lot of potential to become an important part of our organization over the next few seasons."
In March of Bemstrom's rookie season, he appeared to be finding his stride, just before the NHL — and the world — shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When the NHL resumed in the bubble later that summer, though, Bemstrom appeared uncertain and even verged on nervous, never returning to the form he showed before the pause.
In the fall of 2020, with the new NHL season delayed, Bemstrom was loaned to HIFK in the Finnish Liiga, where he scored eight goals and tallied nine assists for 17 points in 16 games. But when the NHL season began, he once again struggled to score goals at the highest level. Bemstrom scored a mere three goals in the 2020-21 season — a hat trick against the Nashville Predators just four games before the season ended.
Injuries again hampered Bemstrom this past season as he suffered an oblique strain at the end of training camp. Once he returned to the lineup, he was again consistently inconsistent. He finished the season with six goals and five assists in 41 games.
Signing Bemstrom to a two-year extension indicates the Jackets still believe he could reach the heights his European play suggests are possible, but he'll face stiff competition in training camp this fall. His ceiling is a productive top-six winger, but thus far in his career, he's been a middling bottom-six player who occasionally flashes goal-scoring skill.
Fellow wingers like Yegor Chinakhov , Kirill Marchenko, Eric Robinson , Carson Meyer, Liam Foudy, Trey Fix-Wolansky, Justin Danforth , Brendan Gaunce and Mathieu Olivier will all be competing alongside Bemstrom for the limited available roster spots. On paper, Bemstrom has the ability to beat out any number of those players, but he'll have to have a strong and consistent training camp to do so.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Emil Bemstrom re-signs with Columbus Blue Jackets
