The Tampa Bay Lightning have signed depth goaltender Jonas Johansson to a two-year, $2.5MM contract extension. Johansson was set to be an unrestricted free agent this summer. Instead, he’ll re-up with the team after spending the full season on the NHL roster.
This season marked Johansson’s second consecutive season serving as Tampa Bay’s full-time backup. He seemed to find a bit more comfort in the role this year, recording a 9-6-3 record and .895 save percentage through 19 games – slightly better than his 12-7-5 record and .890 Sv% in 26 games last year. The boost in ice time last season came largely as a result of superstar starter Andrei Vasilevskiy missing nearly two full months to start the season due to injury. Vasilevskiy returned with vigor this year, recording a .923 Sv% through 63 games on the season. Those numbers are certainly strong enough to keep his feet planted in the high-usage role, while Johansson should gain clear control of the backup role now on an NHL salary. Johansson has totaled a 21-13-8 record and .892 Sv% in 45 career games with Tampa Bay.
Prior to his time in Tampa Bay, Johansson went through stretches with in the Buffalo Sabres, Colorado Avalanche, and Florida Panthers organizations. He struggled to earn NHL minutes at every stop, and often found himself rotating between the major and minor lineups, serving as a fill-in for injuries or absences. Johansson did have a hardy stretch as an ECHL and AHL starter from 2016 to 2020, and even posted a career-year in 2019-20 with a 14-4-3 record and .921 Sv% in 22 games with the AHL’s Rochester Americans. Through his career, he’s totaled 32 wins and a .890 Sv% in 80 NHL games; and 39 wins and a .911 Sv% in 69 AHL games.
Hmmm…a little surprised by the extension of Jonas Johansson but not shocked by it either. Johansson has a hit or miss element to his game it feels. There are games where he looks quite good & then there are games where he’s just completely off. In the first half of this season his play was quite shaky & at points not good at all but he was more solid in the second half of the season. With this deal, it pretty much seals him up as the backup moving forward unless Brandon Halverson outperforms him in the preseason.
yeah , not the ideal choice but not a bad choice either. when u consider other backup options out there; lyon , reimer?, vladar: all likely to get paid the same/if not more than jojo. 1.25 is just a sliver of the teams hit , so yeah i don’t hate this move entirely. ideally he’s able to sharpen up and play 20-25 solid games. the d sometimes tends to fall apart in front of him for some reason , but yeah he’s got a hot/cold aspect to his game it seems. maybe another year under frantz jean continues to help him improve.
Yeah, Jojo is a middle of the road backup. Tampa could do far worse than him. You do make some valid points. Yes, I don’t know what it is but the defense at times when he’s playing in net, sometimes falls apart in front of him. There was things that did improve a bit with him this season compared to last, so maybe as you say, he’ll continue to improve under Frantz Jean & possibly play around 20-25 games to take some weight off Vasilevskiy.
Easiest job in all of hockey. Played 19 games and gets 2.5 million dollars
Awful signing. Bolts needed a viable backup for Vazy. This guy has proven he can barely stop a beach ball. JBB continues to waste money he doesn’t have.