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Andreas Johnsson

Evening Notes: Couture, Pesce, Kings, Johnsson

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Originally, Sharks captain Logan Couture wasn’t supposed to miss much time due to his lower-body injury.  However, he still has yet to play this season with Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News relaying that the middleman hasn’t just suffered one setback in his recovery but rather two separate ones last month.  GM Mike Grier added that they’re not in a position at this point to say if he’ll be back in a month or two, only that it’s something he’s not able to play through.  San Jose could certainly use Couture’s offensive skills – he’s coming off a 67-point showing last season – but clearly, he won’t be making his season debut anytime soon.

Elsewhere around the NHL:

  • The Hurricanes welcomed back Brett Pesce to the lineup tonight against Florida. He had missed eight straight games due to a lower-body injury, hardly an ideal start to a contract year.  Pesce had been in trade speculation dating back to the summer but that cooled off with the injury.  Tony DeAngelo was a healthy scratch as a result of Pesce’s return.  Carolina never put Pesce on the injured list despite him missing three weeks so no corresponding roster move needs to be made.
  • The near-daily roster shuffling in Los Angeles continues as the Kings announced (Twitter link) that they’ve assigned defenseman Jordan Spence and center Jaret Anderson-Dolan to AHL Ontario. The moves get them out of LTIR for a day, allowing them to bank a tiny amount of cap space which will be useful when Viktor Arvidsson is cleared to return.  Los Angeles is back in action Saturday against Philadelphia and both players will almost certainly be back on the roster at that time.
  • As expected, veteran winger Andreas Johnsson has indeed signed with SHL Skelleftea, per a team release. The 28-year-old signed with Pittsburgh in the summer but cleared waivers in training camp and didn’t report to the minors.  The Penguins granted him his release earlier this week, paving the way for him to sign back home and play with his older brother.  It’s a four-year deal for Johnsson which means his days of playing in North America may very well be over.

Andreas Johnsson Linked To SHL’s Skellefteå AIK, Placed On Unconditional Waivers

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Nov. 8: Pittsburgh has placed Johnsson on unconditional waivers Wednesday, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. This move initiates the process of Johnsson being able to sign with an SHL club, presumptively Skellefteå, although it may be a day later than initially planned.

Nov. 6: Veteran winger Andreas Johnsson signed a one-year, one-way deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins this summer to attempt to extend his NHL career. That hasn’t worked out, as he failed to make the team out of camp and hasn’t reported to the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins after clearing waivers one month ago.

Now, it seems his days under contract with the Penguins are ending. Johnsson is expected to sign a three-year contract on Wednesday with Skellefteå AIK of the Swedish Hockey League, according to Hans Abrahamsson and Tomas Ros of Sportbladet.

To do this, Johnsson must have his contract with the Penguins terminated. If the report out of Sweden is accurate, expect Johnsson to be on waivers tomorrow for the purposes of mutual contract termination. After clearing Wednesday, he’ll be able to sign with Skellefteå.

Johnsson hoped a reunion with GM Kyle Dubas in Pittsburgh would prove fruitful. Dubas wasn’t part of the Toronto Maple Leafs regime that drafted Johnsson in the seventh round of the 2013 Draft, but he was heavily involved in his development. He had joined the organization and was the GM of the AHL’s Toronto Marlies by the time Johnsson came to North America in 2016, and he was at the helm of the Leafs when Johnsson posted a 20-goal, 43-point rookie season in 2018-19. Both of those marks remain career highs.

The 28-year-old has slowly slipped down depth charts over the past few seasons with the New Jersey Devils and, briefly, the San Jose Sharks. He played just 13 NHL games between the two teams last season, instead spending most of the season in the minors with the AHL’s Utica Comets, where he recorded 30 points in 36 games.

That showed Johnsson still can be a high-end contributor at lower levels of the game, but likely not in the NHL at this stage. He aims to return to his home country, where he hasn’t played pro hockey since 2016.

If he signs with Skellefteå, the speedy winger will be reunited with his older brother, Jonathan Johnsson, although the 30-year-old center is sidelined until December with an undisclosed injury. While never drafted by an NHL team, the older Johnsson has been quite productive over the last three seasons and change for Skellefteå, recording 40 goals, 90 assists and 130 points in 181 contests.

Skellefteå currently sits eighth in the 14-team SHL with a record of 8-7-1-0. They play home to a handful of NHL-drafted prospects, including Detroit Red Wings 2023 first-round pick Axel Sandin Pellikka. Some skilled NHL veterans, such as Oscar Lindberg and Dylan Sikura, also call Skellefteå home.

Latest On Pittsburgh Penguins Roster

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The Pittsburgh Penguins finally found a goal scorer in their bottom six forwards as Radim Zohorna lit the lamp in the final minutes of the Penguins’ 4-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues last night. Zohorna was playing in his first game of the season after being sent down to the AHL after a strong training camp and formed a unit with fellow winger Drew O’Connor and center Lars Eller.

After the game, Penguins Coach Mike Sullivan was visibly frustrated with his team’s play, and while he didn’t talk about roster decisions going forward, General Manager Kyle Dubas has been. Dubas spoke with NHL On TNT just a few nights ago and said he wanted the bottom six forwards to be tougher to play against and added that he didn’t feel the group was there yet. Dubas’ comments sparked speculation that the Penguins could be looking to make a move in the bottom six and they did by waiving Jansen Harkins and re-calling Zohorna before last night’s game. The Penguins also health-scratched defenseman P.O. Joseph in favor of Ryan Shea who made his NHL debut on the Penguins’ third pairing.

Kyle Dubas stocked up on fringe NHL talent in the offseason and has stashed many of those options in the AHL specifically for a moment like this. The Penguins AHL affiliate has so many veterans in fact that Alex Nylander and Andreas Johnsson had to be veteran scratches for last night’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins game. On top of Nylander, Johnsson, and Harkins, the Penguins also have Vinnie Hinostroza, Rem Pitlick, and Colin White as former NHLers who could be called up to shuffle the furniture in the Penguins bottom six.

Josh Yohe of The Athletic wrote in his 10 Postgame Observations piece that Sullivan typically doesn’t make major changes after a loss, but given the team’s recent record and his comments, he implies that it could happen. The Penguins third line of O’Connor, Eller and Zohorna was very good last night, however, the fourth line of Matthew Nieto, Jeff Carter and Noel Acciari has offered very little to the team and appears to be constantly chasing the play. That group is at the bottom of the Penguins lineup in almost every analytical statistic and has a combined zero points in five games together. Sullivan has been apprehensive about scratching Carter in the past and became defensive with the media last season on multiple occasions when the topic was asked about.

It might be just five games into the season but given that the Penguins are 2-3 against five teams that didn’t make the playoffs last season, there could be big changes brewing in Pittsburgh as Dubas and company try to find an identity for the bottom six forwards. A competent bottom-six has been something the Penguins have lacked since they lost Brandon Tanev (and Jared McCann via trade) in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft and it was one of the big reasons they missed the playoffs in 2023.

Waivers: 10/05/23

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Another set of familiar and intriguing players are set to hit the waiver wire this afternoon, with the Seattle Kraken containing the most quantity of any organization. Per James Mirtle of The Athletic, the entire list is as follows:

Calgary Flames

D Nick DeSimone
F Mathias Emilio Pettersen
F Martin Pospisil

Pittsburgh Penguins

F Andreas Johnsson
F Joona Koppanen
F Alexander Nylander

Seattle Kraken

D Connor Carrick
F Cameron Hughes
F Kole Lind
F Max McCormick
D Gustav Olofsson
F Andrew Poturalski
D Mitch Reinke
D Jimmy Schuldt
F Devin Shore
F Marian Studenic

Examining The Pittsburgh Penguins Bottom Six Options

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The Pittsburgh Penguins saw more turnover this offseason than any other organization in the NHL. From the hiring of President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Kyle Dubas to the signing of a multitude of fourth liners, the Pittsburgh Penguins look wildly different than they did six months ago. It’s certainly a welcome change in the Steel City after the Penguins missed the playoffs for the first time since 2006.

In a recent season preview that was completed by Sean Gentille, Shayna Goldman, and Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic, the trio pointed out that one of the biggest issues with the Penguins last season was the lack of support from the bottom six forward group. The group was so bad that nearly half of it was put on waivers before the trade deadline. Kasperi Kapanen was claimed, Brock McGinn was traded, and many others departed in free agency or were traded away.

Kyle Dubas completely overhauled the bottom six almost exclusively through free agency. In the early days of free agency, the Penguins signed Noel Acciari, Lars Eller, Vinnie Hinostroza, Andreas Johnsson, Joona Koppanen, Matt Nieto, and Radim Zohorna. Dubas also traded for Rem Pitlick who was a throw-in as part of the Erik Karlsson trade. These eight players now find themselves competing with the remaining Penguins’ bottom six options Jeff Carter, Alexander Nylander and Drew O’Connor, as well as Colin White who is in camp on a PTO. The group of 12 will be competing for six or seven NHL spots in the Penguins forward group.

Competition is almost always a good thing in the NHL and the Penguins training camp has seen a lot of it. Very little is set in their bottom six, except that it will likely be again void of offence. While the group doesn’t have a ton of offensive firepower, they clearly have an identity, which is something that didn’t exist in previous seasons in Pittsburgh. Dubas has targeted players who are capable defensively, can skate with pace, and won’t hand the game away by giving up backbreaking goals. The same can’t be said for the Penguins’ bottom six last season.

With all this, one must wonder which players will have the inside track to start opening night on the Penguins’ third and fourth line. Let’s look at the way Head Coach Mike Sullivan and the Penguins might utilize their options.

In a perfect world, Eller would be a perfect fourth-line center, but in Pittsburgh, he will likely see duty as a third-line pivot. At 34 years old, Eller’s best days are behind him, but he is still a very capable penalty killer and is defensively sound. Eller doesn’t offer the offensive pop he did in his last 20s, but he is just a year removed from a 31-point season.

Flanking Eller on the left side will likely be O’Connor, the Penguins love his size and speed and are hoping he can piece it all together. It goes to show how top-heavy the Penguins are when they are counting on a player who has eight goals and nine assists in 78 career games to be a key component of their third line.

When healthy, it seems very possible that the Penguins will deploy Nylander. The former eighth-overall pick has the pedigree to be a scorer in the NHL, but he has never been able to produce enough offense to stick with an NHL club. Nylander will start the season on the Penguins second line in the absence of Jake Guentzel, and depending on his production he could find himself flanking the right side of the third line, or exposed to waivers.

The Penguins’ fourth line is where it gets interesting. Nieto and Acciari were targeted by Dubas on July 1st and fit the identity that Dubas and Sullivan are building for that group. Nieto is a terrific penalty killer and will be utilized in that role a lot, while Acciari adds a physical element and is good defensively. Both players can add a bit of offense as well, Nieto is coming off a season in which he posted 12 goals and 12 assists in 81 games, while Acciari had 14 goals and 9 assists last season in 77 games.

Finally, last season’s lightning rod Carter remains under contract for one more season and is still a favorite of Coach Sullivan. Carter was never removed from the Penguins lineup last year, despite having the worst season of his professional career. Carter looked run down at times and was consistently a step behind when it came to both offense and defense. However, he was utilized in a third-line center role and probably shouldn’t have been. Carter could perform better when being deployed less often and in a more sheltered role. Given Sullivan’s affinity for Carter, it would take a lot to remove the 38-year-old from Pittsburgh’s lineup.

How the Penguins bottom six will look on opening night remains a mystery. But it should be one of the more exciting roster battles to see in the final week of training camp. The Penguins will have to expose a lot of players to waivers to trim down their roster and could lose some bodies to other teams depending on how things shake out.

Pittsburgh Penguins Sign Andreas Johnsson

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Continuing to add to their forward core, the Pittsburgh Penguins have announced they have agreed to a one-year, $800K contract with Andreas Johnsson. Johnsson most recently played for the San Jose Sharks after a trade deadline deal with the New Jersey Devils.

Included in the deal to land the Devils Timo Meier, Johnsson is ready for a bounce-back year. Severely limited in playing time under head coach Lindy Ruff during the 2022-23 NHL season, Johnsson only managed to play in 13 games last year, mostly for the Sharks and tallied three points (all assists) in total. A true-to-fashion change of scenery candidate, Johnsson will be looking to find his game in Pittsburgh.

Not so long ago, Johnsson was projected to be a regular top-six forward. During the 2018-19 season, Johnsson scored 43 points for the Toronto Maple Leafs in 73 games, incredibly only averaging just under 14 minutes of ice time per night. Unfortunately for Johnsson, as his ice time increased, his production took a dive. Just over one year later, the Maple Leafs would trade him to the Devils for depth forward, Joey Anderson.

Johnsson has shown flashes during his time in New Jersey and his time in Toronto as being a particularly above-average forward on the defensive side of the puck, and he will most certainly need to recapture that in Pittsburgh. By their current roster construction, Johnsson will most likely feature in the team’s bottom six, where defensive responsibility will be just as important as his offensive upside.

Injury Notes: Sharks, Raddysh, Jeannot, Noesen

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Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News relayed several updates from the head coach of the San Jose Sharks, David Quinn, on Saturday morning. Most notable of the updates, forwards Alexander Barabanov and Andreas Johnsson are likely out for the rest of the regular season. At the same time, Oskar Lindblom might be able to return before the year is out.

Johnsson, who was acquired from the New Jersey Devils as a part of the deal for Timo Meier, has played sparingly in San Jose, only managing to play in 11 games so far. In that handful of games, he has accrued three assists and has averaged over 15 minutes a night for the Sharks. At the end of this season, Johnsson will be a restricted free agent, finishing up a 4-year, $13.6MM deal he signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs back in 2019.

In stark contrast, Barabanov has been exceptional for the Sharks since coming over from the Maple Leafs in a 2021 trade. Unfortunately for him, he did not receive much playing time from Toronto when he first broke into the league, however; since joining San Jose, Barabanov has been a formidable top-six candidate for the Sharks. Improving each season, he will finish this year with 15 goals and 32 assists in 68 games played.

Other injury notes:

  • Since the separate trades that sent forward Patrick Kane to the New York Rangers, and Max Domi to the Dallas Stars, the Chicago Blackhawks have a new leading point-scorer in Taylor Raddysh. Having an above-average season since his trade from the Tampa Bay Lightning last year, the forward has 20 goals and 17 assists in 78 games for the Blackhawks. Unfortunately, that will be his final point total, as Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times reports that Raddysh has a groin injury that will keep him out of Chicago’s remaining regular season games.
  • Trade deadline acquisition Tanner Jeannot will not be in the Lightning’s lineup tonight as they take on the Ottawa Senators. The team announces that the forward will instead fly back to Tampa Bay to see a doctor after injuring himself against the New York Islanders. Since coming to the Lightning, the forward has played in 20 games, only managing to score four points, but also tallying 77 hits in the process. Last season, Jeannot had much better point totals, scoring 41 points in 81 games for the Predators, throwing a total of 318 hits.
  • As the Carolina Hurricanes look to capture the Metropolitan Division title in the coming days, they will be missing a valuable depth forward tonight in Stefan Noesen. The team reports that the forward will be out with a lower-body injury. Playing in his ninth season of the NHL already, the forward has eclipsed his previous points record, scoring 35 points in 75 games for the Hurricanes so far.

West Notes: Blues, Sharks, Predators

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When the New York Rangers clinched the playoffs last night, thanks to losses by the Buffalo Sabres and Florida Panthers, there must have been some smiles on a Western Conference club, too. The St. Louis Blues will now receive a 2024 third-round pick as part of the Vladimir Tarasenko trade, instead of the conditional fourth that was initially announced.

The Blues now have ten picks in the first three rounds over the next two years, thanks to their trades of Tarasenko and Ryan O’Reilly. That gives them a chance to retool quickly, with considerable draft capital to flip this summer if they are trying to contend in 2023-24.

West Notes: Kurashev, Kolesar, Johnsson, Knyzhov

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Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times reports that forward Reese Johnson will be replacing Philipp Kurashev in the lineup tonight. Johnson will suit up in his first game since the team’s February 19th win against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

In his report, Pope mentions that Kurashev may be headed toward concussion protocol, but are waiting until the team returns to Chicago to make a better determination. In 70 games played for the struggling Blackhawks so far this season, Kurashev has scored nine goals and 16 assists. Although these may seem like tepid numbers from a forward, he has passed his total production from last season, which must be a welcomed sign from the rebuilding Chicago team.

Other notes:

  • After being out since March 11th, the head of the Vegas Golden Knights, Bruce Cassidy, reports that Keegan Kolesar will be back in the lineup for tonight’s game. Although Kolesar does not usually generate a lot of offensive chances for the Golden Knights, the forward has thrown 240 hits so far this year, good for seventh overall throughout the entire league. As the Golden Knights are making their final push to return to the playoffs, Kolesar’s ability to throw the body is a valuable asset to employ come playoff time.
  • Since being acquired from the New Jersey Devils at the trade deadline, forward Andreas Johnsson has not been able to find his footing in the Bay Area just yet. Tallying just three assists in 13 games for the Sharks, Johnsson has been out since the team’s March 20th game with an injury. Sharks beat writer Curtis Pashelka passes on a note from head coach David Quinn that the new forward will likely be out for some time, with no update on when he will return to the lineup.
  • Continuing on with the Sharks, the team has announced that defenseman Nikolai Knyzhov has been sent down to their AHL affiliate San Jose Barracuda. Spending most of this year on the team’s long-term injured reserve, Knyzhov has suited up in nine games for San Jose, scoring only one goal from the back end.

 

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.

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