Viggo Björck is leaving the SHL to pursue NHL opportunities with the Winnipeg Jets. He shared his plans with Djurgården late last week, receiving their blessing, and is expected to sign his entry-level contract with Winnipeg shortly.

Björck is not only expected to make the Jets’ roster. He’s going to be given every opportunity to start the season as Winnipeg’s second-line centre. Winnipeg’s commitment to the 18-year-old is nearly unprecedented, reflecting a partial shift in Jets philosophy and extreme belief in Björck’s NHL ability.

Will it be worth it? And why do the Jets believe Björck is ready for the opportunity?

To answer these questions, one must understand the scope of the challenge ahead of him. Björck is a tremendous prospect with elite hockey sense, but his NHL transition will come with growing pains. The NHL’s 84-game schedule will be more physically demanding than anything he’s experienced before. His opponents will be bigger, stronger, and faster than what he’s used to in the SHL. And the game itself will be different.

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The narrow NHL ice creates new angles that will modify the reads Björck needs to make. When an NHL player gets beat in the corner, the race to the front of the net is so short compared to the SHL so as to seem instantaneous to most players. During one drill at development camp, Björck cut too wide and bounced off the sideboards, caught off guard by the narrow NHL ice.

The transition will take time. Just don’t expect an AHL assignment or even a loan back to the SHL. Winnipeg is betting on Björck to arrive as a No. 2 centre while Mark Scheifele is still a viable No. 1 — a development that would have several positive effects if he’s up to the task.

Chaining multiple “ifs” together is never a safe bet but Björck’s arrival could snap a lot of things into place for Winnipeg if he’s ready. The Jets’ secondary scoring was non-existent last season, apart from a surge from Cole Perfetti, Adam Lowry, and Gabriel Vilardi. If Björck and Perfetti can win their minutes as two-thirds of a secondary scoring line, it will help Winnipeg take a confident step back toward the playoffs as long as Scheifele and Lowry deliver, too.

The other ripple effect comes with respect to Connor Hellebuyck. The Jets and Sabres have had multiple trade conversations, but Josh Norris gained trade protection on July 1 and Buffalo may not be as willing to move Ryan McLeod. If Björck can play the role of second line centre, then Winnipeg can shift its priorities for a Hellebuyck trade from centre to wing.

LWCRW

Kyle Connor

Mark Scheifele

Gabriel Vilardi

Cole Perfetti

Viggo Björck

TBD

Nino Niederreiter

Adam Lowry

Alex Iafallo

Isak Rosén

Morgan Barron

Brad Lambert

Cole Koepke

Vladislav Namestnikov

LD

RD

Josh Morrissey

Dylan DeMelo

Dylan Samberg

Neal Pionk

Mario Ferraro

Elias Salomonsson

Haydn Fleury

G

Stuart Skinner

TBD

Simply writing Björck’s name down in a depth chart doesn’t automatically mean he can handle the job, but Winnipeg wouldn’t be making this bet if it didn’t hold Björck in uniquely high esteem. The Jets were unwilling to promise NHL playing time to Rutger McGroarty, kept Brad Lambert in the AHL to the point that Lambert asked to be traded, and wrote off Elias Salomonsson’s odds of being NHL-ready prior to the start of last season. Winnipeg has been vindicated in some of those decisions — Lambert and McGroarty were not blue-chip prospects with obvious NHL readiness — but the Jets are deviating from their track record.

But why wouldn’t they send Björck back to the SHL or commit him to the Moose this season?

Part of their reasoning is heard in the bleeped-out “F—ing rights!” in Winnipeg’s behind-the-scenes draft feature. Part of it was made clear when Jets director of amateur scouting, Mark Hillier, called Björck “one of the most exciting draft picks I’ve ever had.”

“He’s just so smart, little things, like angling, bouncing off checks and angling off checks. Stick is in the right position all the time,” Hillier said. “At the SHL level against pros, this guy has the puck so much. It’s not just touches — he drives plays. I think he has the puck more than any player I’ve seen in a long time.”

When Björck became the youngest player to make Sweden’s World Championships team, his SHL coach, Robert Kimby, wanted to make sure he stayed focused on the big picture. Kimby texted Björck that playing at the worlds was an incredible accomplishment but not meant to be the peak of Björck’s career. During an off day for Sweden, Kimby reminded Björck that gym time was going to be hard to find during the busy summer ahead, with the NHL draft and then development camps soon afterward.

“I’ve just come back from the gym,” was Björck’s reply. He’d already put in a workout that morning.

Björck followed the worlds with a standout performance at Winnipeg’s development camp, where he dominated in battles against older prospects. It was there that longtime friend Sascha Boumedienne tried to convey Björck’s exceptional nature.

“Some of us call him the perfect human being,” Boumedienne said. “He does everything right, on and off the ice. He really takes care of everything. His nutrition. The way he carries himself outside of the rink. How he treats people … It’s fun to be able to be so close with him and see what he does and think, ‘Wow. This is why he’s so good.’ He’ll be a franchise player for the Jets for a lot of years to come.”

Asked for the origins of that professionalism, Kimby added more praise.

“It’s just in his DNA. From day one this year, you could sense that, ‘I don’t have to worry about this guy. I don’t have to teach him how to be a professional. I don’t have to tell him how to handle himself.’ We can talk about hockey, we can do video, we can work on technique,” he said.

At 17, Björck was the one making sure his Djurgården teammates set their alarms or arrived to practice on time. If a workout was scheduled for 8:30 a.m., Kimby said, Björck would be there at eight. Those good habits are part of why Kimby told The Athletic that Björck could handle the NHL.

“If he has his mind set on something, good luck trying to convince him. If he feels that he’ll be a much better player if he stays (in the SHL) one more year, then it will take a lot to change his mind. But if he feels, ‘I’m going to play in the NHL,’ then he will do that,’” Kimby said.

It is wise to keep immediate expectations for Björck modest. The Jets adore him as a prospect, but he may take time to adapt to North American ice and the NHL style of play. A successful season may mean that he stuck in the NHL as a centre, played a committed 200-foot game with good attention to detail, and produced a little bit of offence. His scoring may even be limited to the point of creating a whiplash effect, with observers who hype him today overcorrecting with concern by season’s end. In that case, Björck’s decision to leave the SHL and the Jets’ push to give him NHL minutes will be the subject of heated debate.

Over a long enough timeline, however, the indication is that Björck is a player to believe in. Even though he’d love to have Björck back on his team for one more season, and thinks it would be great for Björck’s development, Kimby concedes he’s capable of handling NHL competition.

“I heard one scouting report that says he plays like a ‘junkyard dog.’ I think that’s his mentality when he’s in the corners,” Kimby said. “He’s fearless and he wins his battles.”