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Andreas Johnsson

Andreas Johnsson Clears Waivers

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Dec 29: Johnsson has cleared waivers and was immediately assigned to Utica.

Dec 28: According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, the New Jersey Devils have placed Andreas Johnsson on waivers once again, after he previously cleared at the beginning of the season. He joins Max Willman today, who the Philadelphia Flyers already announced would be on waivers.

Johnsson, 28, has played just two games this season in the NHL, after scoring 13 goals and 35 points in 2021-22. As the Devils improved their forward group, he was pushed further down the depth chart and now finds himself on the outside looking in when it comes to NHL minutes.

Given the team also was forced to move Ondrej Palat to long-term injured reserve just to fit in today’s recalls, burying Johnsson in the minor leagues can also be beneficial to their cap situation. His $3.4MM cap hit can’t be entirely buried, but $1.125MM will come off the books while he plays for the Utica Comets.

That is of course assuming he clears waivers, though it seems very likely given that contract situation.

New Jersey Devils Recall Andreas Johnsson

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The New Jersey Devils have announced that forward Andreas Johnsson has been recalled from the team’s AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets.

The move puts Johnsson, 28, in the position to make his season debut in New Jersey. Despite scoring 13 goals and 35 points in the NHL last season, the former Toronto Maple Leafs forward didn’t make the Devils’ roster out of camp and was placed on waivers near the start of the season.

His placement on waivers may have been partially financially motivated, though, as it’s likely that Johnsson’s $3.4MM cap hit played a role in the Devils making him available for every other NHL team to claim.

Likely due to his contract, Johnsson went unclaimed on waivers, something that has greatly benefitted the Comets. In 12 AHL games, Johnsson has 13 points, production that supports the idea that despite losing his NHL job in New Jersey he’s still a capable offensive producer.

With Ondrej Palat, Nathan Bastian, and Miles Wood all dealing with injuries, the Devils’ recall of Johnsson gives them a spare forward to work with on their roster. While we don’t yet know if head coach Lindy Ruff will dress Johnsson for games, this recall is certainly an opportunity for Johnsson to re-establish himself as an NHL talent.

Devils Recall Akira Schmid, Send Andreas Johnsson To AHL

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With Mackenzie Blackwood suffering a lower-body injury while stretching across to make a stop against Edmonton on Thursday, the Devils needed a second goaltender.  That second netminder will be Akira Schmid as the team announced today (Twitter link) that he has been recalled from AHL Utica.  To make room for him on the roster, winger Andreas Johnsson has been sent down to the Comets.

The 22-year-old Schmid has played in four games so far this season with Utica, posting a 1.97 GAA along with a .918 SV%, numbers that are considerably better than the ones that Nico Daws has put up so far which helped Schmid earn the nod.  He does have a bit of NHL experience having played in six games with the Devils last season but he struggled in those appearances to the tune of a 4.83 GAA and a save percentage of just .833.  Vitek Vanecek will likely get the bulk of the workload until Blackwood is able to return and no timeline has been provided on that front yet.

As for Johnsson, the 27-year-old actually had the second-best year of his career last season with New Jersey, collecting 13 goals and 22 points in 71 games.  However, with a $3.4MM AAV and a tenuous hold on a roster spot, the Devils correctly predicted that he’d pass through waivers unclaimed last month, allowing him to be shuffled back and forth as roster needs warrant.  He hasn’t played with the Devils this season and has six points in four games with the Comets so far.

New Jersey Devils Place Ondrej Palat On IR, Recall Andreas Johnsson

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The New Jersey Devils have placed forward Ondrej Palat on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, retroactive to October 24, according to the team. In a corresponding transaction, the team also recalled forward Andreas Johnsson from the AHL’s Utica Comets.

While Palat would theoretically be available to return as soon as Monday due to the retroactive placement, it doesn’t sound like that’s the case. The team said in their statement that Palat continues to meet with doctors and that a “final determination… as to the next course of action” will be made on Monday.

Palat has not skated since suffering the injury on Monday against the Washington Capitals. He had three goals and no assists in six games at the time of the injury.

Johnsson, on the other hand, has not played an NHL game yet this season after clearing waivers a few weeks back. In four games in Utica, though, he’s blown away the competition with a goal and five assists. As Johnsson enters the final year of a contract paying him $3.4MM per year, some NHL games in Palat’s absence could help repair his value and help him continue his NHL career past this season. The 27-year-old had 35 points in 71 games with the Devils last season.

Devils Activate Nico Hischier, Assign Andreas Johnsson To The AHL

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The Devils will have their captain back in the lineup tonight against Detroit as the team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve activated center Nico Hischier off injured reserve.  To make room for him on the roster, New Jersey has assigned winger Andreas Johnsson to Utica of the AHL.

Hischier suffered a hamstring injury in his only preseason appearance close to three weeks ago in Montreal.  The original hope was that he’d only miss ten days and that he’d have been ready to start the season but he missed their season-opening loss to Philadelphia on Thursday.  The 23-year-old is coming off a career year that saw him put up 21 goals and 39 assists in 70 games while logging over 19 minutes a night and will be a welcome addition to their center group.

Hischier’s absence was basically only delaying the inevitable for Johnsson who cleared waivers at the end of training camp.  The 27-year-old is coming off a decent campaign that saw him put up 13 goals and 22 helpers in 71 games; his 35 points were the second-most of his career.  However, with a $3.4MM price tag, he’s someone that most teams simply couldn’t afford to claim off the wire.  He’ll head to the minors in the hopes of playing his way into a recall if someone else gets injured but it’s certainly not the start to his contract year that he was hoping for.  New Jersey will save $1.125MM on the cap with his demotion with the remaining $2.275MM remaining on their books.

Waivers: 10/07/22

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It’s an important day for waivers as the regular season approaches, and several potential targets are available. With the preseason wrapping up, teams will try to sneak players through at the last second and keep them in the organization for the time being.

Many of these placements are due to salary cap restrictions or LTIR machinations to give teams maximum flexibility as the season begins. Everyone from yesterday’s list cleared.

Here is today’s group of waiver additions:

Carolina Hurricanes

Jordan Martinook

Dallas Stars

Anton Khudobin

Edmonton Oilers

Mattias Janmark
Dmitri Samorukov

Minnesota Wild

Steven Fogarty

New Jersey Devils

Andreas Johnsson
Brian Pinho

Philadelphia Flyers

Kevin Connauton
Troy Grosenick

St. Louis Blues

Martin Frk
Klim Kostin
Matthew Highmore

Vancouver Canucks

Justin Dowling

Winnipeg Jets

Johnathan Kovacevic

Snapshots: Toronto Maple Leafs, Pulock, Johnsson

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Auston Matthews’ hunt for a 60-goal season ended Tuesday night against the Detroit Red Wings, scoring numbers 59 and 60 in a 3 – 0 win. Unfortunately for those hoping to see the Hart Trophy candidate exceed 60 goals, the Toronto Maple Leafs are expected to sit Matthews, along with forward Mitch Marner and goaltender Jack Campbell when they take on the Boston Bruins tomorrow night, reports Jonas Siegel of The Athletic, Toronto’s final game of the season. Sitting the three shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, with the Maple Leafs place in the standings, second in the Atlantic Division, completely secured, giving no reason to risk the health of these three incredibly important players.

In addition to Matthews and his 60 goals, Mitch Marner had himself another season to remember, putting up 35 goals and 62 assists for 97 points in 72 games this season. Campbell on the other hand, has had his struggles. An All-Star this season, Campbell was discussed as a potential Vezina Trophy candidate as recently as January, but struggles in net and injury made for a tough second half of the season for the veteran netminder. On the season, Campbell has a .914 save percentage and 2.64 goals-against average in 49 games, but after the All-Star break, Campbell sported just an .894 save percentage and 3.28 goals-against average in 17 games. As concerning as that shift is for Toronto, there is a reason for optimism, as Campbell has a .915 save percentage and 2.59 goals-against average in nine games in the month of April.

  • The New York Islanders will be without defenseman Ryan Pulock tonight as they take on the Washington Capitals (link). Pulock is out with a non-COVID illness, the same illness that has made its rounds through the Islanders’ locker room the past couple of weeks, forcing several players to sit out in that time. With just one game left in their season after tonight, the Islanders will hope to get Pulock back and keep the rest of the lineup intact for their final game against the Tampa Bay Lightning tomorrow night. Pulock has enjoyed another strong season on the Islanders blue line, but has dealt with injury, missing time in November and December. In 55 games this season, the defenseman has five goals and 15 assists, averaging just over 21 minutes per game.
  • The New Jersey Devils also announced that forward Andreas Johnsson would miss tonight’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes with a non-COVID illness (link). It’s unclear what illness Johnsson has come down with, but for tonight at least, the Devils will have to proceed without him. New Jersey has just one game after tonight, coming tomorrow night against the Detroit Red Wings. Johnsson has enjoyed a solid season thus far, tallying 13 goals and 22 assists over 71 games and will hope to build on it next year, his final with the Devils before becoming a UFA next offseason.

Snapshots: Johnsson, Fleury, Vejmelka

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With the salary cap set to stay flat for the near future, the battle for most NHL clubs is being able to fit their payrolls under that cap’s $81.5MM upper limit. For the Arizona Coyotes, though, the upcoming battle seems to be managing to ice a roster above the NHL’s salary floor. Per CapFriendly, the Coyotes’ projected cap hit for the 2022 season currently stands at only $37.9MM, and the team’s only major pending free agents are Lawson Crouse and Phil Kessel, two players who very well could be traded before this season’s trade deadline. Essentially, the Coyotes are going to need to add some significant salaries to their cap sheet to get above the cap floor, which currently sits at just over $60MM.

The Coyotes’ need to add salary to reach the cap floor is made more complicated by the team’s arena situation and the finances involved with it. The team is already not known as a financial powerhouse and has historically struggled with inconsistent ownership. The team recently agreed to a deal to play in Arizona State University’s new multi-purpose arena project, settling there on an “indefinite” basis until the team can secure a new long-term home. With a home arena capacity set to be under 5,000, and the team already receiving the maximum amount of support from the league’s revenue-sharing system, it stands to reason that budgets could be tight for the Coyotes moving forward. This means that their effort to get above the salary cap floor for next season could be more complicated than simply doling out a few big contracts. The team may be looking to get a bit more creative, and to take advantage of how the NHL calculates salary cap hits.

The NHL calculates a player’s cap hit through the average annual value of the contract. So if a player signs a 2-year contract worth a total of $10MM, the yearly cap hit is going to be $5MM, regardless of how the individual years’ salaries to be paid out are structured. This means that there are players on teams’ rosters with higher cap hits than actual dollars due to be paid to them for that season, and it seems as though the Coyotes could target those players to be able to get above the cap floor without needing to pay the full $60MM or so that the cap floor is set at.

One of those players with a cap number exceeding actual cash owed is Devils winger Andreas Johnsson. Johnsson, 27, is set to have a base salary of only $750k next season. His signing bonus is set at $1.75MM, but his cap hit is going to be $3.4MM. This makes Johnsson an ideal candidate for them, and TSN’s Darren Dreger links Johnsson with the Coyotes for this exact purpose. Johnsson could be a fit with the Coyotes for not only all the financial reasons previously mentioned but also for his play on the ice. Johnsson has 11 goals and 28 points this season, and his 28 points would make him the fourth-highest scorer on the Coyotes. He is an accomplished offensive player at lower levels who has flashed talent at the NHL level, and has scored 20 goals before. The Coyotes went all-in on mining value from unconventional sources when building their roster this season, as evidenced by the out-of-nowhere success of Travis Boyd. Acquiring Johnsson, as Dreger reported they could, would represent a continuation of that philosophy for GM Bill Armstrong.

  • In more news about the Coyotes coming from TSN’s Insider Trading panel, TSN’s Chris Johnston reports that the Coyotes are “going to have to look” at potential trades for goaltender Karel Vejmelka if the team is unable to reach a deal with him on an extension. Vejmelka is one year away from being an unrestricted free agent, and although the Coyotes, per Johnston, really like Vejmelka and are engaged in trying to get him signed to an extension, their organizational mandate to accumulate as much long-term value as possible could mean that Vejmelka gets dealt to a goaltending-needy team. On a Coyotes team that has struggled all season, Vejmelka has been occasionally brilliant and posted decent overall numbers, with a 3.38 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage. Again, the Coyotes team Vejmelka plays behind has been among the league’s worst this season, so while these numbers aren’t impressive on their own they are more impressive with proper context. From what Johnston is reporting, it seems as though the Coyotes genuinely do want to keep Vejmelka as a first priority, but the realities facing the team mean they could be forced to deal him.
  • Pierre LeBrun of TSN has reported that the Toronto Maple Leafs “have spoken” with the Chicago Blackhawks about the 2020-21 Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. Toronto’s goaltending has faltered in recent weeks, with starter Jack Campbell struggling to find his game and backup Petr Mrazek enduring season-long issues. Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas has repeatedly reiterated his faith in the team’s goaltending tandem, but this reported “due diligence” conversation between the two clubs is an indication that perhaps the goaltending situation in Toronto is not as settled as it may seem. LeBrun does note that Toronto is unlikely to be Fleury’s ideal trade destination if he elects to be moved. But regardless of Fleury’s specific situation, this reported contact between the Maple Leafs and Blackhawks is an indication that the Maple Leafs are potentially searching for upgrades in net, and if they end up doing so their pursuit could drastically change the trade market, as the pool of available goaltenders is generally believed to be thin.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Andreas Johnsson Suffers Lower-Body Injury

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New Jersey Devils forward Andreas Johnsson suffered a lower-body injury during warmups today against the Pittsburgh Penguins, thereby holding him out of the game, per head coach Lindy Ruff.

In his place, Marian Studenic drew into the lineup for the 16th time this season. The Devils lost the game to Pittsburgh 4-2.

Johnsson’s been one of the Devils’ best forwards in what’s been an overall tough season for the team and their offense. Always a good playmaker, he’s improved his overall offensive game this season and is on an 82-game pace of 20 goals.

This was Johnsson’s third missed game of the season. Through 46 contests, he has 11 goals and 26 points in 46 games.

The team has yet to issue a further status update on Johnsson or the severity of his injury.

New Jersey Devils Sign Kyle Shapiro To ATO

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The New Jersey Devils were in trouble when they were forced to put both Akira Schmid and Mackenzie Blackwood in the COVID protocol. The only other healthy goaltender in the entire organization was Jon Gillies. While he’ll get the start tonight, his backup will be Kyle Shapiro, who has signed an amateur tryout contract.

Shapiro, 28, is an assistant coach with the NAHL’s New Jersey Titans and serves as a regular emergency backup for the Prudential Center. He played four seasons of Division III college hockey, three of them with the University of Southern Maine and one with New England College. If forced into action, it would be his first competitive game since the 2017-18 season.

It’s not all bad news for the Devils though. The team has also activated Nathan Bastian, Andreas Johnsson, Yegor Sharangovich, and Pavel Zacha from the COVID protocol. Colton White has also been recalled from the taxi squad. All five players are available to play tonight, giving the team a little bit of a boost as they take on the New York Islanders.

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