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Tyler Johnson

Atlantic Notes: Maple Leafs, Luongo, Harvey-Pinard, Kastelic, Johnson, Mermis

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have been without captain Auston Matthews for almost two weeks with a lower-body injury. Sportsnet’s Luke Fox argued that Matthews’ prolonged absence has opened some eyes in Toronto regarding the team’s center depth.

Toronto essentially moved every center up a line with John Tavares and Max Domi manning the top two lines. Fox believes that the Maple Leafs must upgrade their third line, which has usually been centered by Domi this season. He’s only managed six assists in 18 games this season and hasn’t scored a goal in the regular since April 6th, 2024.

If general manager Brad Treliving concurs with the assessment the team will have some options available for trade. Fox lists Brock Nelson, Mikael Granlund, Frank Vatrano, Nick Bjugstad, and Jake Evans as the likeliest options for the Maple Leafs to pursue with the former being undeniably the best option.

Other Atlantic notes:

  • Earlier this week, Hall-of-Fame netminder Roberto Luongo met for an interview with former players Ryan Whitney and Paul Bissonnette on the Spittin Chiclets podcast. In the interview, Luongo revealed that shortly after being acquired by the Vancouver Canucks in the 2006 offseason the Detroit Red Wings offered Luongo an offer sheet which would have been more than his eventual four-year, $27MM deal with the Canucks. The organization pivoted to veteran netminder Dominik Hasek who would help them capture their 11th Stanley Cup title a year later after being rejected by Luongo.
  • Eric Engels of Sportsnet reported that Montreal Canadiens forward Rafael Harvey-Pinard won’t return tonight but is close. Harvey-Pinard is continuing to recover from a broken leg that has put his start to the 2024-25 NHL season on pause. He hasn’t played meaningful hockey since last season scoring two goals and 10 points in 45 games for Montreal.
  • Boston Bruins forward Mark Kastelic left the team’s overtime loss against the St. Louis Blues today after skating in 5:18 of the action. Conor Ryan of the Boston Globe shared that Kastelic is expected to miss the next few days with a lower-body injury. Thankfully for Kastelic and the Bruins, the team doesn’t play again until their contest against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night meaning Kastelic could be an option.
  • One member of the Bruins organization who didn’t see any ice time this afternoon was veteran forward Tyler Johnson. Before puck drop, the team announced Johnson was out due to ’family reasons’ but would return to practice tomorrow. Johnson has gone scoreless in four games in Boston after signing a one-year contract with the organization two weeks ago.
  • Moving back to Toronto, defenseman Dakota Mermis skated this morning before practice according to David Alter of The Hockey News. Mermis, who has been on the team’s LTIR while recovering from jaw surgery, signed a one-year, $775K contract with the Maple Leafs this past offseason.

Boston Bruins Sign Tyler Johnson

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Veteran forward Tyler Johnson finally has a resolution on his professional tryout agreement with the Boston Bruins. The organization announced they signed Johnson to a one-year contract for the 2024-25 season with a league minimum salary of $775K.

According to PuckPedia, the move brings Boston to a full 23-man roster with a current cap space of approximately $515K. Outside of the team’s fourth line, the Bruins have had little consistency from the rest of their forward line to start the year meaning Johnson should begin somewhere in the team’s middle six.

He’s no longer the typical 50-point threat during his time with the Tampa Bay Lightning but brings Stanley Cup pedigree to an organization that has failed to move beyond the second round of the playoffs since 2019. He’s spent the last three years on a rebuilding Chicago Blackhawks team scoring 32 goals and 70 points in 149 games while producing a -64 rating. The Bruins shouldn’t expect that Johnson’s addition to the lineup will bring them out of their current 27th-ranked offense but he should help out in a few other areas.

Johnson is a much better player on the defensive side of the puck than his tenure with the Blackhawks suggested which should theoretically help lower Boston’s 3.23 GA/G. The Bruins are also one of the league’s worst possession teams at 24th with a 48.3% CorsiFor% in all situations. Johnson has maintained a 52.1% CF% throughout his career including a 49.7% average during his time in Chicago.

He may also feature on the Bruins’ penalty kill but it’s unlikely league-average production with a man disadvantage is a priority to fix with more pressing issues at hand. On paper, the move strikes as a positive move in the right direction for a struggling Boston team but not necessarily the game-changing impact they appear to need.

Bruins Sign Tyler Johnson To PTO

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With training camps now less than three weeks away, it’s expected that there will be an uptick in PTO activity over the coming days as players look to catch on somewhere.  The Bruins are getting involved in the tryout market as the team announced that they’ve signed veteran forward Tyler Johnson to a tryout agreement.

[Related: 2024 Professional Tryout Tracker]

The 34-year-old spent the last three seasons with Chicago after being acquired from Tampa Bay in a salary cap-clearing move.  Staying healthy had been a challenge for Johnson in his time with the Blackhawks which certainly didn’t help his cause on the open market.  Nonetheless, he managed to put up 32 points in 56 games in 2022-23 and followed that up with 17 goals and 14 assists in 67 contents last season while logging 15:32 per night.

Before that time, Johnson spent nine seasons with Tampa Bay, being a key secondary scorer for most of his tenure with them.  Over his 12-year career, he has 193 goals and 238 assists in 738 games between the Lightning and Blackhawks.  With that track record and a decent showing offensively when healthy with Chicago over the last two years, it’s a little surprising that he wasn’t able to secure a guaranteed contract for the upcoming season.

Earlier this month, we took a closer look at Johnson’s free agency and highlighted the Bruins as one of the possible fits.  While Johnson has spent more time on the wing than down the middle in recent years, he can still play center and would represent some insurance on Matthew Poitras who missed 38 games last season due to shoulder troubles.  If they want Poitras to ease in on the wing to start the season – or even start at AHL Providence – Johnson could serve as some low-cost insurance on that front.

At the moment, the Bruins have around $8.64MM in cap space, per PuckPedia.  However, most of that will be earmarked for RFA goaltender Jeremy Swayman; they will need to sign him before they can get a better sense of what they might or might not be able to spend on a contract for Johnson or any other veteran free agents that they might have their eye on.  In the meantime, Johnson will at least have a shot at suiting up in the preseason and making a case for a contract either with Boston or elsewhere.

Free Agent Profile: Tyler Johnson

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Several years ago, Tyler Johnson was a key supporting piece of Tampa Bay’s offense, playing a secondary scoring role in their back-to-back titles in 2019-20 and 2020-21.  However, despite a couple of seasons of decent output in that same role with Chicago, the veteran finds himself unsigned more than six weeks into free agency.

The 34-year-old spent his first nine NHL seasons with the Lightning with his best performance coming nine years ago when he put up 72 points in 77 games before settling into a full-time middle-six role after that.  Along the way, he was rewarded with a seven-year, $35MM contract, one that was a market-value deal for a while.

However, with Tampa Bay’s cap crunch forcing their hand on clearing out multiple veterans, the Lightning eventually needed to move him out; they moved a second-round pick to get Chicago to take on the final three years of his contract while taking on the LTIR contract of Brent Seabrook in return.

Unfortunately for Johnson, his first two seasons were mired with injuries, playing in only 82 games combined while spending just as many on the shelf.  Despite that, in 2022-23, he still managed to put up 32 points in 56 games, respectable numbers for a middle-six forward.

Last season, Johnson produced at close to the same clip.  He was able to stay healthy for longer, making 67 appearances while putting up 17 goals and 14 assists, his highest goal total since 2018-19.  However, that hasn’t been enough to land him a guaranteed contract so far.

Stats

2023-24: 67 GP, 17 G, 14 A, 31 PTS, -35, 26 PIMS, 112 shots, 15:32 ATOI, 41.7 CF%
Career: 738 GP, 193 G, 238 A, 431 PTS, +20, 240 PIMS, 1,498 shots, 16:26 ATOI, 49.6 CF%

Potential Suitors

At this stage of his career, Johnson is no longer a full-time top-six player.  With that in mind, his best fits are generally going to be with teams that have an offensive-minded third line while potentially moving into the top six temporarily when injuries arise.

In the East, his old stomping ground in Tampa Bay could make some sense.  They could use one more addition to their middle six and having some familiarity with their system could give Johnson a leg up.  If Boston wants some insurance for Matthew Poitras in case they don’t think he can handle a full season at center, Johnson could serve as low-cost veteran depth.  Washington, meanwhile, has some questions with T.J. Oshie’s health and might want an extra veteran in the fold; Johnson could also potentially allow Hendrix Lapierre to play a big role with AHL Hershey to start the season.

Out West, Colorado could still stand to upgrade their depth but with their cap situation, they will be primarily looking for players at or close to the league minimum.  After Nashville moved Cody Glass last week to free up cap space, they could be an under-the-radar option if they have enough cap space left after re-signing Juuso Parssinen and Philip Tomasino.  Meanwhile, Winnipeg struck out on helping their center situation this summer after not being able to re-sign or replace Sean Monahan.  Johnson isn’t at that same level but would at least give them some extra depth at the position.

Projected Contract

It’s more than clear that Johnson won’t come anywhere close to the $5MM he made over the last seven years.  While it’s possible that he could land a seven-figure deal with a rebuilding team that wants some veteran depth, the better option for him might be signing for close to the $775K minimum salary, giving him a chance to have a better selection of teams to choose from.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Blackhawks Notes: Johnson, Bedard, Kurashev, Captaincy

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The Chicago Blackhawks can expect to lose Tyler Johnson this summer, reports Ben Pope of The Chicago Sun-Times (Twitter link), with the veteran forward instead hoping to sign with a playoff contender. Johnson told Pope, “I’m obviously thankful for being here, I’ve met a lot of good people, but it wasn’t exactly like I envisioned or wanted.”

Johnson’s Blackhawks career certainly hasn’t gone as the team may have expected either. He joined the Hawks ahead of the 2021-22 season, after years of filling a solid role, and routinely challenging 50 points, with the Tampa Bay Lightning. But as forewarned by his last two years in Tampa Bay, injuries have heavily limited Johnson’s career in Chicago. He’s missed 97 games over the last three seasons, including playing in just 26 games in 2021-22 due to a neck injury. Those absences have kept him from finding a true groove with the Blackhawks, scoring just 70 points in 149 games and never averaging more than 16 minutes of ice time. Chicago iced one of the youngest lineups in the league this season and seems bound to do much of the same next year, as they attempt to build a franchise around Connor Bedard. After years of injury issues and low scoring, it’s easy to see why the 33-year-old Johnson may prefer a more productive end to his career. He’s set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1st.

Other notes out of Chicago:

  • Speaking of Bedard, he’s confirmed that he is headed to the World Championship with Team Canada, per The Athletic’s Scott Powers (Twitter link). This is hardly a surprise – Bedard has been a fixture of international hockey since he tied Connor McDavid’s record for U16 scoring (14 points) at the World U18 Championship in 2021. Bedard has officially totaled 21 points in 11 games with Canada’s U18 team and 31 points in 14 games with the U20 team. He’ll look to build on that phenomenal scoring this summer, now at the top level of international play.
  • Bedard’s linemate, Philipp Kurashev, will also be headed to the World Championship to play for Team Switzerland, shares Pope (Twitter link). Kurashev and Bedard quipped that their top goal will be to score on Petr Mrazek, who will suit up for Team Czechia. This will be Kurashev’s fourth consecutive season attending the World Championship, having totaled 13 points in 24 games over the last three tournaments.
  • Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson shared that the team isn’t yet sure if they’ll have a captain next season, per NBC Sports Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis (Twitter link), adding that it’ll be an off-season conversation with the coaches. The Hawks haven’t had a captain since Jonathan Toews’ career ended in the 2022-23 season, though they did have five different alternate captains last year. Whoever takes on the role will be setting history, becoming the first Blackhawks captain since a 20-year-old Toews took on the role in 2008. Toews’ 14-year tenure in the role makes him one of the longest-tenured captains in NHL history – a list led by Steve Yzerman’s 19 seasons leading the Detroit Red Wings.

Blackhawks Activate Tyler Johnson, Recall Louis Crevier

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Tracey Myers of NHL.com is reporting that the Chicago Blackhawks have made a pair of roster moves today activating forward Tyler Johnson off the injured reserve and recalling defenseman Louis Crevier from the Rockford IceHogs.

Johnson had been sidelined with a right foot injury since December 31st and will presumably slide into the Blackhawks’ third line alongside Lukas Reichel and Mackenzie Entwistle. Given the Blackhawks forward personnel, the 33-year-old Johnson will also likely see time on Chicago’s first powerplay unit.

Early in his career, Johnson was a perennial 20-goal scorer but hasn’t hit that mark since the 2018-19 season. This year Johnson has nine goals and four assists in 35 games and could become a trade chip for Chicago as we near the NHL trade deadline. Johnson is in the last year of his contract and carries a $5MM cap hit, and while he does have a 20-team trade list there could be interest in the veteran as a buy-low option if he can show he still has his scoring touch.

Crevier on the other hand, has dressed in 15 games this season for Chicago and has three assists. He will likely serve as the Blackhawks’ healthy scratch tonight against the Minnesota Wild but could see action at some point during his recall. The 22-year-old has yet to score a goal in professional hockey at either the AHL or NHL level but does offer some other attributes that aren’t often seen in professional hockey. Standing 6’8” tall, Crevier is very solid in the defensive zone as his size allows him to disrupt offensive sequences and close gaps that smaller players might not be able to.

Central Notes: Lucchini, Brodin, Johnson

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After sending him down at the beginning of the All-Star break, the Wild recalled forward Jake Lucchini from AHL Iowa on Monday, per The Athletic’s Michael Russo. The move gives them a 12th healthy forward for Wednesday’s game against the Blackhawks. Pat Maroon, Connor Dewar and Vinni Lettieri remain on injured reserve and are not expected to be available.

Lucchini, 28, has yet to record a point in eight games with the Wild, averaging 8:21 per contest and posting a -1 rating. It’s been a much better showing in the minors for the veteran depth forward, who ranks among Iowa’s best point-per-game producers with 11 goals and 23 points in 30 appearances.

He’s dangerously close to losing his temporary waiver exemption after passing through unclaimed during training camp. If he plays in two more contests, a likely scenario given the Wild’s injury situation, he’ll need waivers once again to head to Iowa.

Notably, the Wild did not recall top goaltending prospect Jesper Wallstedt today. He’d been on the active roster leading into the All-Star break with Marc-André Fleury on the shelf with an upper-body injury, meaning the veteran is likely ready to dress against his former team later this week. Wallstedt allowed seven goals on 34 shots in his lone NHL appearance this season.

Elsewhere from the Central Division:

  • Sticking with Minnesota, top shutdown blue-liner Jonas Brodin was absent from today’s practice with an illness, according to Russo. The 30-year-old had three assists in his last four games heading into the All-Star break, and his status for Wednesday is unknown. The 12-year veteran missed 17 games earlier this season with an upper-body injury, putting immense pressure on rookie Brock Faber to shoulder all-situations responsibilities in his first NHL campaign. Faber’s done so well, leading Wild defenders in points (29) and average ice time (24:51). Brodin has one goal through his 32 showings this year and is second behind Faber in ice time, averaging 23:42 per game.
  • Blackhawks veteran Tyler Johnson is expected to return to the lineup against the Wild on Wednesday, head coach Luke Richardson said (via NBC Sports Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis). The 33-year-old missed all of Chicago’s 14 games in January with a foot fracture sustained on New Year’s Eve against the Stars. His pending IR activation brings Chicago’s injured forwards count to four, and he’s expected to resume a top-six role in his return in the continued absence of rookie Connor Bedard due to a broken jaw. The pending UFA has nine goals, 13 points, and a -15 rating in 35 contests.

Injury Notes: Blackhawks, Red Wings, Engvall

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The Chicago Blackhawks saw a string of players progress in their injury recovery, with Nick Foligno (fractured finger) and Ryan Donato (illness) fully returning to the team’s practice on Sunday, while Connor Bedard (jaw), Samuel Savoie (leg), and Tyler Johnson (undisclosed) were all on the ice for varying times before the team skate started. Connor Murphy was not able to take part in the team’s skate, though, continuing to miss time with a lower-body injury.

Donato has missed the Hawks’ last two games with an illness, while Foligno has sat out of seven games thanks to a placement on injured reserve earlier in the month. Both players are trending towards a return, finally bringing some form of relief to a Chicago lineup that’s currently experiencing injuries to 10 different players. Foligno went down on the same night that star rookie Bedard was injured. Both players falling out of the lineup effectively fractured Chicago’s top six, with the team going 3-4-0 – including one overtime and one shootout win – and scoring just 13 goals since the pair got hurt. That averages out to 1.85 goals-per-game – a mark that’s significantly held up by the two four-goal outings Chicago has had since Bedard’s injury.

Other notes from around the league:

Blackhawks Recall Brett Seney, Place Tyler Johnson On IR

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The Blackhawks recalled forward Brett Seney from the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs on Monday, according to a team announcement. In a corresponding transaction, the team moved veteran Tyler Johnson to injured reserve.

This is the first recall of the season for the 27-year-old Seney. The 5-foot-9 natural center has been a bona fide top-six scorer in the minors since turning pro in 2018, but has never been able to truly lock down a full-time NHL role.

After spending the first five seasons of his pro career with the Devils and Maple Leafs, Seney joined the Blackhawks on a one-year, two-way deal with a salary guarantee of $475K prior to last season. He responded with a career-high 23 goals and 31 assists for 54 points in 59 games with AHL Rockford, which resulted in two call-ups in the second half of the season. Skating in seven NHL games with Chicago last year, his most since logging 51 in his rookie season with the Devils in 2018-19, Seney recorded a goal and a -2 rating while averaging 13:08 per game.

In late March, Seney’s strong AHL production earned him a one-year extension with a small pay bump, increasing his salary guarantee to $500K for 2023-24. He’s responded with a slower start in Rockford after clearing waivers during training camp, posting eight goals and 21 points in 29 games, good enough for second in points behind Dave Gust on the struggling IceHogs. However, his -17 rating is the worst on the team, and he’s the only player with more than one point on the season with a rating worse than -10.

Still, he’s one of the better options left in the Blackhawks system to provide a punch to an already-weak offense that’s been destroyed by injuries. Major offseason acquisition Taylor Hall remains out for the season with a knee injury, while Joey Anderson, Andreas Athanasiou and Taylor Raddysh are all also on injured reserve.

Johnson, 33, now becomes the fifth Blackhawks forward on IR. He sustained a right foot injury in yesterday’s game against the Stars, and there is no timeline for his return. The aging Johnson had seen top-six minutes on multiple occasions this season thanks to the team’s rash of injuries and has nine goals and 13 points in 35 games, including a two-goal effort against Dallas last Friday.

He will miss at least the next seven days due to his IR placement, during which period the Blackhawks have four games. He’ll be eligible to return on January 9 against the Oilers.

Trade Notes: Maple Leafs, Johnson, Martinez

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Once the roster freeze across the league is lifted on Thursday morning, it will mark the unofficial start to trade season in the NHL calendar. Up to this point, much has been made of the potential trade targets for the Toronto Maple Leafs, primarily centered around veteran defenseman Chris Tanev, currently with the Calgary Flames.

Instead of sorting through potential targets, Jonas Siegel of The Athletic wrote an article (subscription required article) examining the assets currently available to the Maple Leafs they will have to offer in any deal leading up to the trade deadline. Given the team’s current positioning in the standings and their liberal usage of draft selections in the past, Toronto’s first-round draft pick in the 2024 NHL Draft will likely be in play.

However, given the team’s recent history of trading first-round draft picks, there should be some considerable internal pushback in moving the asset once again. Since 2019, the Maple Leafs have used their first-round pick to acquire Jake Muzzin (2019), Nick Foligno (2021), Ryan O’Reilly (2023), Noel Acciari (2023), Jake McCabe (2025), and Sam Lafferty (2025). The team also traded their 2020 first-round selection to move Patrick Marleau to the Carolina Hurricanes, and their 2022 first-round selection to move Petr Mrazek to the Chicago Blackhawks.

Of the six players acquired by Toronto for first-round draft picks in the last six seasons, only one of them (McCabe) is still in the organization, as the rest have moved on to different organizations, or have seen their careers end. Keeping this in mind, if the Maple Leafs are to use their 2024 first-round draft pick as leverage for a trade this season, they would be much better served in acquiring a player with term.

Other notes:

  • Heavily linked to Calgary center, Elias Lindholm, Jimmy Murphy of Boston Hockey Now indicates if the price for Lindholm remains high, the Boston Bruins may look to a recent trading partner in the Chicago Blackhawks to improve down the middle of the ice (article link). Murphy indicates that shortly after the roster freeze is lifted, Chicago will make center Tyler Johnson available for trade, also being able to retain salary in the deal. With a high amount of injury concern attached, Johnson may still be an effective buy-low middle-six option for the Bruins.
  • After the recent extension given to defenseman Ben Hutton, Ken Boehlke of SinBin reports that more changes may be coming to the blue line of the Vegas Golden Knights. With seven defensemen already on the active roster, and with Shea Theodore and Kaedan Korczak both expected back at some point, Boehlke notes the Golden Knights may be inclined to move out defenseman Alec Martinez. The moving out of Martinez would open up space in the defensive core as well as cap space for an additional upgrade elsewhere.

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