COLUMBUS, Ohio — During small talk before an interview on Wednesday, a reporter noted that Emil Bemstrom’s locker stall in the Blue Jackets’ dressing room had been moved. Once tucked in the right corner, the soft-spoken Swede is now closer to the front.
As he surveyed the room, Bemstrom nodded, let out a sigh and observed: “I’ve been in a lot of places in here.”
He wasn’t bragging.
Bemstrom, 23, is back in the NHL once again after an emergency recall from AHL Cleveland early Wednesday. He’ll be in the lineup on Thursday when the Blue Jackets play in Long Island, replacing Patrik Laine (illness), who did not travel with the club.
“I’ve been playing really well down (in the minors),” Bemstrom said. “But it’s fun to be back up here and get things going.”
That first part of that comment is no joke. Bemstrom is a dominant AHL player, putting up 14-17-31 in just 21 games in Cleveland. He’s fifth in the entire league in scoring, even though he spent a couple of weeks earlier this season in the NHL.
As for the second part? Well, Bemstrom and the Blue Jackets hope this is the recall where it all comes together.
Over the last 2 1/2 seasons, Bemstrom has been demoted and recalled from AHL Cleveland four times, demoted and recalled to the taxi squad (during COVID-19 times) twice, and placed on waivers (and cleared) following training camp this fall. .
The Blue Jackets would have cut ties with Bemstrom by now if they didn’t feel like a talented, contributing NHL player resided within him.
He has shown glimpses, certainly, including a late-season hat trick in 2020-21. In 124 career NHL games, he has 21-19-40, but half of that (10-10-20) came in 56 games during his rookie season (2019-20).
That hard truth is, Bemstrom has not been a consistently dangerous offensive player, and he plays as if something is holding him back. There’s reluctance and hesitancy to his game, not the quick-strike player who played his way to the NHL out of Sweden or who keeps showing up in AHL Cleveland.
“The skill set is there,” Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen said. “He’s a worker. He’s not a lazy guy. It’s calming his mind as the pace goes up, and that’s hard. You might get four, five, seven shots in the AHL, but you might get two or three in the NHL if you’re lucky.
“You have to make those count. So how do you calm your mind in those situations? It’s really up to the athlete and believing in himself, doing it with confidence.”
Don’t blink or you might miss Emil Bemstrom’s goal. @monstershockey | #CHIvsCLE pic.twitter.com/m62gCSOl6G
— American Hockey League (@TheAHL) November 6, 2022
Larsen is planning to give Bemstrom a grand opportunity. The second-year coach made sweeping line changes coming out of a 5-2 loss to last-place Chicago before the holiday break, the Blue Jackets’ sixth consecutive regulation loss.
He’s putting Bemstrom in the spot he’d planned to play Laine, which is with center Jack Roslovic and winger Johnny Gaudreau, the club’s leading scorer.
But there’s only so much Larsen or any other coach can do, and you could hear the pain in Larsen’s voice on Wednesday as he discussed Bemstrom and the myriad attempts the club has tried to help him grab hold of an NHL job.
“You rack your brain trying to help him,” Larsen said. “The mind is such a tough thing. You do the video. You do the reps out on the ice.
“Once the game starts, you just go, and you have to go by instinct. How do you get there? I’d be a multi-billionaire if I had the answer for that. The mind is a tricky thing.”
Bemstrom agrees with Larsen, but only to a point.
“My first two years I had a bit of struggles with (letting go and playing),” he said. “This year, I haven’t felt that way much at all. I’m just playing hockey and having fun. I think I have better success that way.
“When you’re thinking too much, it’s going to go the other direction. I’ve tried to find that balance between ‘I want to stay here’ and ‘I don’t want to think too much.’”
The Blue Jackets would obviously be delighted if Bemstrom grabbed hold of this opportunity and never switched lockers again. It’s probably fair to say that optimism fades each time he’s returned to Cleveland, but they don’t want to give up on Bemstrom.
As long as Bemstrom is on an emergency recall — that is, as long as Laine is sick — his games-played won’t count toward his waiver total. But he can only play three more NHL games under a standard recall before he’d have to clear waivers again to go back to AHL Cleveland.
Larsen remembered coaching long ago Blue Jackets minor-league player Jonathan Marchessault when Larsen coached and Marchessault played for the AHL affiliate then located in Springfield, Mass.
Marchessault was an explosive AHL player who the Blue Jackets kept buried in the minors, recalling him for only a two-game stint in 2012-13. He was deemed too small, too slow and not in good enough shape to cut it in the NHL and was eventually traded in a swap of minor-league players with Tampa Bay.
Three years later, he was a 30-goal scorer with Florida. He’s since becoming an offensive force with Vegas. He’s on pace for his third 30-goal season with the Golden Knights this season.
“You hope the guy doesn’t move on and find it,” Larsen said. “That’s what terrifies general managers.
“With Bemmer, we’re hoping he can find it here and that he’s a guy we can work with for many years to come.”
(Photo of Emil Bemstrom: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
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