Forward Nick Bjugstad will enter his 13th NHL season with the Utah Hockey Club in its inaugural campaign. The 32-year-old has played in 694 games with five different teams. However, without refining his game with the Arizona Coyotes the past two seasons, he may not be in the position he is in today.
Who Is Nick Bjugstad?
The Florida Panthers’ first-round selection (19th overall) in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft spent seven years in South Florida. Bjugstad’s career-best season came in 2017-18 when he scored 19 goals and added 30 assists for 49 points. He was traded at the following season’s trade deadline to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The 6-foot-6, 209-pounder’s time with the Penguins was short-lived. After playing 32 games in the second half of the 2018-19 season, Bjugstad played 10 games the following season before needing core muscle surgery. He returned to play the last three games of the regular season and mustered two points.
Bjugstad returned home for the next two seasons with the Minnesota Wild. He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and played ice hockey at Blaine High School. The right-handed shot accumulated 131 points in 74 games in his high school career. He stayed in the State of Hockey playing his college career at the University of Minnesota. He was an alternate captain in his junior season and played two seasons with forward Travis Boyd (who was his teammate the past two seasons in Arizona.) The 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons were injury-riddled for Bjugstad. He tallied 20 points in 101 games with the Wild.
Two Years in the Desert
With questions surrounding his ability to play a full season and level of play, the Coyotes signed Bjugstad to a cheap one-year deal worth $900,000 on July 13, 2022. Arizona desperately needed to add depth to their forward core entering the 2022-23 season and he fit the bill according to now-Utah’s general manager Bill Armstrong.
“We are very pleased to have Nick join the Coyotes,” Armstrong said at the time. “He is a big, strong, two-way forward who will provide experience and leadership. We look forward to having him on our roster next season.”
Bjugstad certainly lived up to everything Armstrong had hoped for and more. In 59 games during the 2022-23 season, he lit the lamp 13 times and added 10 helpers for 23 points. He was a plus-11 on a losing Coyotes team and 11 of his 13 goals came at even strength. His impressive turn-around campaign drew interest from the Edmonton Oilers at the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline. Therefore, he was traded along with defenseman Cam Dineen for defenseman Michael Kesselring and a 2023 third-round pick.
Related: Nick Bjugstad Proving His Worth to the Coyotes
Entering the 2023 offseason, Bjugstad’s one-year deal was up for renewal. The Oilers chose not to re-sign him and he hit the open market in July. Arizona wasted no time bringing back their two-way center, signing him to a two-year deal worth $2.1 million per season on the first day of free agency.
“We are very pleased to have Nick re-join the Coyotes,” Armstrong said at the time. “He is a reliable two-way center, a good leader, and a great teammate. We look forward to having him back on our roster again this season.”
So far, the Minnesota product has lived up to the extent of his contract. Last season, Bjugstad collected 22 goals and added 23 assists for 45 points in 76 games. At 31 years old, he recorded his second-best offensive season of his career (it had been six years since he came close to his 49-point season in 2017-18.) Furthermore, he was tied with Kesselring for the Coyotes’ second-best plus/minus rating at plus-11. He also was Arizona’s go-to centerman in the faceoff circle, winning 617 draws (which was the team’s best).
If that was not enough, 19 of his 21 goals came during five on five play. Bjugstad was the complete package for now-Utah head coach André Tourigny. He played anywhere in the Coyotes’ top-nine forward core, and when forward Barrett Hayton went down twice with injuries, Bjugstad centered forwards Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz on Arizona’s top line. When forwards Dylan Guenther, Logan Cooley, and Lawson Crouse started clicking on the second line, he played a third-line role.
His two-way abilities gave him time on the Coyotes’ power-play and penalty-killing units as well. Like his teammate forward Alex Kerfoot, he is another Swiss Army knife at Tourginy’s disposal for this upcoming season.
Bjugstad’s Fit in Utah
Utah’s forward core has not experienced much change this offseason and Bjugstad should continue to hold his top-nine role this upcoming season. Here is a look at what the opening-night forward lines could look like:
Clayton Keller — Barrett Hayton — Nick Schmaltz
Dylan Guenther — Logan Cooley — Lawson Crouse
Matias Maccelli — Nick Bjugstad — Josh Doan
Michael Carcone/Liam O’Brien — Jack McBain/Alex Kerfoot — Kevin Stenlund
With McBain, Kerfoot, and Carcone all being capable of shouldering third-line minutes, Bjugstad may be pushed more this season to maintain his spot on with Maccelli and Doan. Assuming everyone stills healthy, Utah will have two extra forwards who provide solid depth options.
Entering the final year of contract, look for Bjugstad to continue to provide veteran leadership (he is currently Utah’s oldest forward) and two-way play style.
