Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - Are People SLEEPING On Viggo Björck?? w/Byron Bader | BB Clips

Episode Date: May 30, 2026

Byron Bader of Hockey Prospecting joins the show to break down one of the most interesting players in the 2026 NHL Draft class: Viggo Björck. Where should he actually rank in this draft? Byron currently has Viggo ranked 10th on his board, but is that too low for a player already producing against men in Sweden’s SHL?The boys dive into Björck’s upside, hockey IQ, offensive ceiling, NHL projection and why scouts seem split on where he belongs in the draft. Is he a future top-line center? Could he sneak into the top 5? Or are there legitimate concerns keeping him outside that elite tier?Plus, Byron explains what his model sees in Björck compared to other top prospects in the 2026 class and why this may be one of the toughest rankings in the entire draft.Video Link: https://youtu.be/QRw-fHgHGcE#nhl #nhlshorts #nhlplayoffs #nhlpredictions #nhlhockey #nhlpicks #stanleycup #stanleycupfinal #nhldraft2026CHECK OUT OUR STUFF ⬇️BARN BURNER MERCHhttps://nationgear.ca/collections/shirts/FlamesnationBARN BURNER SHORTS https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj_bcGtvvo-cW2DHEDZ6dEO5ePDmlhZc9&si=jo8iNGxT4ImhS2Y8📲 Follow us:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fnbarnburner/X (Twitter): https://x.com/barnburnerfn?lang=en🎧 Listen on:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/be/podcast/barn-burner-boomer-pinder-with-rhett-warrener/id1648562889Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Mc6Qd5U22R2zbMlQ7RxIiProducer: Jack Haverstock Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's time to talk about Vigo Bjork because a lot of folks want us to talk about Vigo Bjork. A lot of folks are excited about Vigo Bjork. And you talked about Ty and Lawrence and how guys in North America don't usually switch leagues. And Vigo Bjork did. Played in two leagues this year. He played in the Swedish league and in the U-20 league over in Sweden.

And not only in the playoffs. Well, yeah, he went back late. A little bit. Yeah, and he had a great four games. Yeah, but then like 10 playoff years. And he had 20 points. So a crazy playoff for Vigo Bjork in the playoffs. I had sort of a modest year, I would say in the Swedish league playing,

you know, reasonable minutes, not on a great team. And also, in his case, he's also done a ton of international play this year, World Juniors, World Championships, I mean. Here's that great clip of him just knocking Adam Klavka. He was asked to steal a puck from which. Good for Bjork and not as good for Klapka. Yeah, no kidding. Well, he's, so he's a short center.

He's a 510 center. Oh, he's 510. He's not a center then. Well, he's a few small. You know, who else is a 510 center? Our friend Cole Reschney. The 510 center. Could you have two of those on the same team?

You know what? One of them is right handed though. I dare say you could. And you know what? I don't know if you can. I am looking at these Montreal Canadians and I am saying I get it. You're going to lose to the Carolina Hurricanes, a team that also has some short centers.

And I'm saying I'm here for it. The hurricanes, they have Sebastian Ojo and Logan Stan. Owen. He is playing number two center. He is, Nick, Nick Suzuki is barely 5.11. Yeah.

If we're going to, if we're going to be playing the measuring stick game. And who's Montreal's two seat? Well, to know, to know, he's not, he's not the biggest guy.

Are you telling me that's, that it's not a, they don't, they don't measure goals and assists based on, uh, your size and your height. They don't weigh you and say, here's how many goals he got,

though. That's the thing, Montreal, their centers, that's sort of their, their big issue right now is they don't really have a, uh, a quote unquote two C because they've got Jake Evans there and he's a sort of a bigger guy,

but they got Deno, they were like the only team that wanted Deno because he had zero goals of the Kings, but they knew that he could do stuff for them. Exactly. But that's the thing, right? Like we are seeing a bit of a reckoning in the NHL this year of teams where centers, the centers that are winning games in the playoffs this year are skilled centers first and foremost, who aren't necessarily big, powerful Ryan Getslaught types who are effective in their own way,

but who just take over games. And I mean, I look at the centers on the team that has already punched its ticket to the Stanley Cup final, and Jack Eichel is an all finesse guy, and William Carlson is an all finesse guy, and Tomas Hurtle is an all finesse guy. And I am looking at the idea of the flames,

adding a guy like Vigo Bjork to their contingent. And sort of saying here, you know, would it be bad? I mean, you have Mel Hocher ranked ahead. But how do these two guys profile differently against each other? So, yeah, model-wise, they're quite different because Bjork is a little bit older. He's not old, but I think he's born March 30th. Whereas Malhotra is quite young.

Yeah, he's like, I think late June. So that, like I always like those spring summer guys, especially the summer guys, a lot more, just historically. If apples to apples, they have the same numbers, those. guys tend to be something more in the NHL, I guess. But you have Malhotra coming from obviously Junior League in the OHL, dominating, doing some big things in the playoffs. And he's kind of like progressively, like he starts off in the BCHL last year.

Yeah. And he's low producer in the BCHL, which is, you know, on the second tier junior league. But then he makes a big jump and he's kind of getting better as the season's going, like his equivalency is growing throughout the year. and then as he gets in the playoffs, I think he has an equivalency in the 40s. Last I checked.

26 points and 15 games. That's the thing. Both these guys are coming off crazy playoffs. Crazy playoffs. Which, I mean, always like that always goes into people's drafting lists and the recency effect and stuff. So I like that.

Like he's kind of progressively getting better and better. And then Bjork is a bit of a different scenario because he's a little bit older. And he had a really great, really high equivalency playing in the gym. 20 last year. He had something in the early 30s, I think, which is amazing for a D1, especially like a Marchborn guy. Like now I want to see him follow that up with like something in like the 40s or the 50s. Then I'd be ecstatic about this guy. But he goes to the SHL, which is essentially

the second or third hardest league in the world. And his equivalency drops down. And I never like to see that where they drop from especially like something from the 30 into the 20s. but there's a caveat where if they're playing in like the same league like if they're playing in the oh-h-l and they drop from a 30 to a 20s it's like catastrophic like there's a guy in the draft who did that rubric i think right or was it no was it belchitz or rubric yeah was it rubric yeah was it rubric yeah um but if you're going to like the jump up from going from the j20 to the Swedish league like it's probably three times harder um so i'm taking that into account so I like the way he plays, like just watching like the highlights and watching like, you know,

his sterties in the world. Like he's he's sturdy and he's hard on the puck. He's going to be like a possession monster. But I always liken it back like he's going to be in the NHL. He's going to play 200 games in the NHL. But what are you getting? Are you getting like Hoglander or are you getting like Brad Marchand? Right. Like a guy that is an absolute dog in the puck and kind of a pain in the ass. But he's also going to get like 80, 90 points a year. Great. Sign me up. But if he's like a dog on the puck, great possession player, but he's kind of, you know, like you're kind of getting like Michael Backland where you're getting 30 to 50 points in a good year, then it's like I think you might be walking away from a really good potentially star option

above him, the players that I have ranked above him and just getting a really good possession player. Like I want the star at six overall. Like this is a relatively deep draft. you know, this is not 2012. You have some good potential. So that's my only reservation, I guess, with Bjork is like, are you getting the monster point producer?

Are you getting just kind of okay? How does your model, I guess, I don't have to ask this. Okay. The world's are weird, man. And so like, I don't know. Like, if I were in your shoes, now as building a model, like, the world is such a weird conglomeration of whoever is healthy, interested, and available. Yeah.

And meanwhile, OHL playoffs are here's who's, here's the best of the best, the survival, you know, they've gone through the survival of the fittest. So like you had, you know, Malhotra playing against some really good battle tested teams. And you have Bjork being a little more showy and getting arguably, I'd say, really prominent role because it's Swedish national team going, screw it. It's the world we, we don't have, with this club team, there, you know, they have this, the thing in Sweden, I'm sure you're aware of where young guys tend not to play a lot because, you know, you need to earn your spot.

Yep. And so he probably played lower the rotation than he would have in other situations. Whereas in the world, it's not a club team. They don't care. They're just giving him prominent minutes because they're trying to win a short-term tournament. How do you weigh a tournament like the world's your model or do it all? It is not at all in there because it's always like the world juniors,

the worlds, the Olympics, like none of that stuff is in the model. It's all kind of like league base and it's all regular season because some teams get a nice long playoff run. Some teams get nothing, but like, you're not going to pose guys to being on bad teams kind of thing. Yeah, but they always, well, unless they get injured,

they always play the same amount of regular season games by each league. So, yeah, playoffs aren't taken into consideration and stuff like the worlds and World Juniors aren't in the model as well. It's just sort of like a nice anecdotal thing. Like, oh, look how he's doing out there.

I just want to cap off this Vigo Bjork discussion with just a remember some names, uh, uh, uh, category of our show. because I'm looking here at Gergarden. Dragarden, not an overly successful team this year.

Is this who I think it's going to be? There's a few. Not an overly successful team this year, but a bit of an older team. That's the thing. So they, like kind of like the 23 Flames, a veteran team that's not very good. Where we're, where, where, the stuff of legends, you know, where a younger player can maybe play. And in Bjork's case, the youngest player on the team. Oh, yeah.

And I mean, the only other 17-year-old was more. Marcus Nordmark, who only played eight games and had one assist. So the fact that Vigo Bjork played virtually every game is impressive in and of itself. But here we go. Starting from the very top, here are some members of, here are some of Vigo Bjork's teammates with Gergarten this year. Joey Lalegeo. Oh, I remember him.

Joe Snively. Charles Hudan. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Charles Hudan. A couple 25 first round picks in Anton Frundell and Victor Reckland. Okay. And then Colby Sizzins, Colton's brother, Colton's brother, Colby Sisons.

Matthias Emilio Pedersen. Oh my goodness. Hello, Emilio. Flames legend. This guy, a very highly touted player at one point, Jacob Josephson, New Jersey. New Jersey Devil's first round pick. Yeah, back in the day, back in the day. Another fairly highly touted player at one point who won a couple Stanley Cups, Marcus Kruger.

Right. And then Gustav Lindstrom, Philip Holm. Oliver Shillington. Oh. Yeah. Like, so a lot of guys who are very established pros on this team,

like very established pros. Even guys like Anton Frundell, I mean, when he was 18, he was, when he was 17, he was an established pro. He was viewed as a top three pick, right?

One of my favorites. You've reviewed number one overall prospect for 2025. And, uh, I mean, yeah. So, some very,

some very tough competition, albeit not on a very good team. Yeah. Which for a guy like Vigo Bjork is maybe the most difficult. possible scenario where the team itself isn't so good that it can boost your production. Yeah. But also it's so deep in its own way. It's kind of like the current flames.

They got all depth, no stars. So you can't. So you can't break through as much. Yeah. Significant role on the team. Well, and that's always the thing is like,

it's like, oh, if he wanted to have gone back to the J20, like he would have killed it, he would have looked great in your model. Probably. I agree. Like you look at what he did in the playoffs. He had 20 points and nine games.

Like you, you translate that. Like if that, you know, if he, if that's a good decent sample of games, and he did that in the regular season, the J20,

he would go from like something in the 30s to something in the 40s and he'd be like, yeah, looks great. He's the guy. But he didn't do that. And he goes to the SHL. So it's always this tricky thing. It's like, wow, he would have done that

if he was in the junior league, but he didn't. So then, like, this is what he did in this year. And it's like, the SHL, I will say, is the biggest league, I'd say, where they, you know, they don't, they don't have these great productive years. years, but then they move over to the NHL early on, and then they just start exploding,

like Lucas Raymond. Lucas Raymond was the first one I thought. And Copatar is another one where it's like, I don't know what we got here. And then he comes over here and then his production is like three times what it was there. So I like him a lot. I'm just a little hesitant like, are you getting a game breaker? That's my big thing. And JuGuard especially, like they were, they weren't great this year.

And like, bless his heart. I will, this is a pro Theos doxilius program. We will not say a bad word about that young man. Stonks are high. But he played so many S.A. shell games because your gardens ran out of forwards. Like he, when he came back from that skate cut, he played like two or three games in junior. And then the club team's like, we're out of bodies, guys.

Can you give us a couple guys who can, who can hack it for a little bit? And then he played like the remainder of the season because he was fine, but they didn't have many other options. And so it was one of those things where the team was no great shakes and they're basically going with here, the 18 skaters we have were healthy this week, we're going to make the most of it. And, you know, I think it's probably kind of tough to judge statistical profiles when guys are sort of forced in those kind of situations, right? Yeah. Oh, for sure.