In a surprising move, the New Jersey Devils acquired Andreas Johnsson from the Toronto Maple Leafs for young forward Joey Anderson. Anderson really was starting to impress this season in the few games he played. He had four goals and six assists in 18 NHL games played. His production is not what made him stand out though, it was being a positive player on a bad team and showing a strong two-way game at only 22 years old. He may not have star potential, but he is already an NHL player and will slot into the bottom six. He’s probably what the Leafs need behind all the skill on the top forward lines.
Andreas Johnsson had a hot start to his first full year in 2018-19 scoring 20 goals and 43 points which would have made him a top-end player on a team like the Devils. On a team like Toronto, he is always behind guys like Mitch Marner, Auston Mathews, William Nylander, and John Tavares who command so much money someone had to move. Despite rumors of Nylander for so long they have decided to trade Johnsson. With his first season success, he was given a contract of 3.4million a year that continues for another 3 seasons.
This is spectacular value for a guy who doesn’t get the most minutes and produces at a half a point a game pace, especially one who is 25. On top of production, he is a gritty player who will make them harder to play against.
Johnsson should be given a shot on the first line with Nico Hischier and Kyle Palmieri this season. Having rather responsible players and two good shots on the wing with Nico, not to mention the sandpaper of them, should give Devils fans some hope for this season to be better. Averaging under 14 minutes a game in his best season one should expect that to jump to 17 in a guaranteed top-six role. Much like when Palmieri came over, Johnsson, with increased ice time and opportunity, could see a jump in production as well.
Buying low on a player who was injured this year and taking advantage of the static cap helped make this move and it is one the Devils have in the short term and likely the long term won. It is a very good step in the right direction and GM Fitz has continued to make the right choices, for the most part, this offseason.