Around the League 2019-20 Pt. 2

[johnjm22]

Jack Johnson had only 10:57 minutes of ES TOI (by far the least of any Pen's Dman) and was still a team worst -3.

Shea Weber played 23:55 (most of any Hab's Dmen) and scored 3 points. I guess Montreal won the Subban trade after all.

 

[kilowatt]

Jack Johnson had only 10:57 minutes of ES TOI (by far the least of any Pen's Dman) and was still a team worst -3.

Shea Weber played 23:55 (most of any Hab's Dmen) and scored 3 points. I guess Montreal won the Subban trade after all.

He was the direct cause of the Habs’ tying goal. No toolbox at all.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

It's rather amazing that with experience, one would assume a player with almost 1,000 NHL games and a 14-year career would be wiser and develop the smarts to be a steady and reliable player on the ice, but Jack Johnson has never put it all together.

Only once in his entire career has he finished a season in the plus category. Perhaps Dean Lombardi was onto something when he questioned Michigan's ability of developing defensemen back when he went on his tirade about the school.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

 

[BigKing]

It's rather amazing that with experience, one would assume a player with almost 1,000 NHL games and a 14-year career would be wiser and develop the smarts to be a steady and reliable player on the ice, but Jack Johnson has never put it all together.

Only once in his entire career has he finished a season in the plus category. Perhaps Dean Lombardi was onto something when he questioned Michigan's ability of developing defensemen back when he went on his tirade about the school.

The cult of Johnson and the MF stuff is so ridiculous looking back on it. A big part of his potential was that he was supposed to be a physical force to go along with the skills but that was proven fraudulent very quickly

Guy got flipped by Jan Bulis in his first game. Then in the last game of that season, his fifth, he fights Carcillo and doesn't look good doing it. He then jumps in on Doan after he runs the goalie and Doan kind of feeds him. The look on Johnson's face as he skated to the locker room was the look of a guy that realized he couldn't be a bully anymore.

Guy had crazy PIM totals leading up to the NHL. 136 PIMs in 48 high school games. 149 PIMs in his freshman year at Michigan in 38 games. Picks up 18 in his five game stint to close out the '07 season, gets worked over in that Phoenix game and turns in to a softy.

His first full season in 2008, he plays 74 games and averages 21 minutes a night. Only 84 hits and his 76 PIMs feature zero fighting majors as he wouldn't fight again after the Doan incident until February of 2009 against noted heavyweight Sam Gagner. It is also no coincidence that this is the best Johnson ever looked in a fight. He "fights" Penner two months later, gets beat up the following pre-season by a low PIM guy in Derek Joslin and then doesn't fight again until 2012 in what might have been his first game for CBJ.

2009 - 41 games/51 hits/20 minutes a night
2010 - 80 games/143 hits/22 minutes a night
2011 - 82 games/84 hits/23 minutes a night

I'll always remember Blake not letting Laperriere fight him after he absolutely murdered Ryan Smyth. Like, he just might have killed a guy so let Lappy fight him. The Carcillo fight had Thornton ready to jump in. The Joslin fight I mentioned had someone ready to jump in to save him. Like...why the coddling? He's supposed to be this bad ass but he's apparently above The Code when it comes to the Smyth incident?

Then you get Johnson on Team USA and he is a career plus player and he runs around like the asshole we thought we were getting. I have to believe that this happens because he can do that stuff and not have to answer for it. There just seems to be a discomfort to his NHL game that vanishes when he plays for Team USA and was definitely not there when he was physically superior to his peers as a teenager.

The lack of a toolbox can be overcome a bit if he adds that legit physical element but he wilted at the NHL level in that regard. I think his bully play and attitude helped his scoring totals before entering the NHL and, now that I think about it, Lombardi probably realized that Johnson was not the "tiger" he thought he traded for and was actually the kitty cat with stripes painted on it after his first full season in 2008. Hello Colten Teubert pick.

I don't have an issue with NCAA development, but this is a guy that needed to be in the CHL and not be allowed to run around with a full cage on for two years while being the big man on campus.

 

[Matt13]

The cult of Johnson and the MF stuff is so ridiculous looking back on it. A big part of his potential was that he was supposed to be a physical force to go along with the skills but that was proven fraudulent very quickly

Guy got flipped by Jan Bulis in his first game. Then in the last game of that season, his fifth, he fights Carcillo and doesn't look good doing it. He then jumps in on Doan after he runs the goalie and Doan kind of feeds him. The look on Johnson's face as he skated to the locker room was the look of a guy that realized he couldn't be a bully anymore.

Guy had crazy PIM totals leading up to the NHL. 136 PIMs in 48 high school games. 149 PIMs in his freshman year at Michigan in 38 games. Picks up 18 in his five game stint to close out the '07 season, gets worked over in that Phoenix game and turns in to a softy.

His first full season in 2008, he plays 74 games and averages 21 minutes a night. Only 84 hits and his 76 PIMs feature zero fighting majors as he wouldn't fight again after the Doan incident until February of 2009 against noted heavyweight Sam Gagner. It is also no coincidence that this is the best Johnson ever looked in a fight. He "fights" Penner two months later, gets beat up the following pre-season by a low PIM guy in Derek Joslin and then doesn't fight again until 2012 in what might have been his first game for CBJ.

2009 - 41 games/51 hits/20 minutes a night
2010 - 80 games/143 hits/22 minutes a night
2011 - 82 games/84 hits/23 minutes a night

I'll always remember Blake not letting Laperriere fight him after he absolutely murdered Ryan Smyth. Like, he just might have killed a guy so let Lappy fight him. The Carcillo fight had Thornton ready to jump in. The Joslin fight I mentioned had someone ready to jump in to save him. Like...why the coddling? He's supposed to be this bad ass but he's apparently above The Code when it comes to the Smyth incident?

Then you get Johnson on Team USA and he is a career plus player and he runs around like the asshole we thought we were getting. I have to believe that this happens because he can do that stuff and not have to answer for it. There just seems to be a discomfort to his NHL game that vanishes when he plays for Team USA and was definitely not there when he was physically superior to his peers as a teenager.

The lack of a toolbox can be overcome a bit if he adds that legit physical element but he wilted at the NHL level in that regard. I think his bully play and attitude helped his scoring totals before entering the NHL and, now that I think about it, Lombardi probably realized that Johnson was not the "tiger" he thought he traded for and was actually the kitty cat with stripes painted on it after his first full season in 2008. Hello Colten Teubert pick.

I don't have an issue with NCAA development, but this is a guy that needed to be in the CHL and not be allowed to run around with a full cage on for two years while being the big man on campus.

I might be able to shed some light on what happened.

I once sent an email to Dean Lombardi asking him if it was a player decision or coaching decision to pull the reigns on Jacks fighting as he had been aggressive those first few games and then nothing.......

Imagine my excitement as Dean actually wrote back. While I don't have the email any longer, I can remember exactly what he wrote........ "I don't know - Dean"

I can only imagine the amount of idiotic emails he got from idiots like me......and sorry I didn't really shed any light on this for you.

 

[KINGS17]

I might be able to shed some light on what happened.

I once sent an email to Dean Lombardi asking him if it was a player decision or coaching decision to pull the reigns on Jacks fighting as he had been aggressive those first few games and then nothing.......

Imagine my excitement as Dean actually wrote back. While I don't have the email any longer, I can remember exactly what he wrote........ "I don't know - Dean"

I can only imagine the amount of idiotic emails he got from idiots like me......and sorry I didn't really shed any light on this for you.

If it was a good question, Dean responded more than people know, especially in the early years.

 

[Jason Squirties]

I might be able to shed some light on what happened.

I once sent an email to Dean Lombardi asking him if it was a player decision or coaching decision to pull the reigns on Jacks fighting as he had been aggressive those first few games and then nothing.......

Imagine my excitement as Dean actually wrote back. While I don't have the email any longer, I can remember exactly what he wrote........ "I don't know - Dean"

I can only imagine the amount of idiotic emails he got from idiots like me......and sorry I didn't really shed any light on this for you.

This may be the best and worst post I've read in a really long time. Well done.

 

[KINGS17]

The cult of Johnson and the MF stuff is so ridiculous looking back on it. A big part of his potential was that he was supposed to be a physical force to go along with the skills but that was proven fraudulent very quickly

Guy got flipped by Jan Bulis in his first game. Then in the last game of that season, his fifth, he fights Carcillo and doesn't look good doing it. He then jumps in on Doan after he runs the goalie and Doan kind of feeds him. The look on Johnson's face as he skated to the locker room was the look of a guy that realized he couldn't be a bully anymore.

Guy had crazy PIM totals leading up to the NHL. 136 PIMs in 48 high school games. 149 PIMs in his freshman year at Michigan in 38 games. Picks up 18 in his five game stint to close out the '07 season, gets worked over in that Phoenix game and turns in to a softy.

His first full season in 2008, he plays 74 games and averages 21 minutes a night. Only 84 hits and his 76 PIMs feature zero fighting majors as he wouldn't fight again after the Doan incident until February of 2009 against noted heavyweight Sam Gagner. It is also no coincidence that this is the best Johnson ever looked in a fight. He "fights" Penner two months later, gets beat up the following pre-season by a low PIM guy in Derek Joslin and then doesn't fight again until 2012 in what might have been his first game for CBJ.

2009 - 41 games/51 hits/20 minutes a night
2010 - 80 games/143 hits/22 minutes a night
2011 - 82 games/84 hits/23 minutes a night

I'll always remember Blake not letting Laperriere fight him after he absolutely murdered Ryan Smyth. Like, he just might have killed a guy so let Lappy fight him. The Carcillo fight had Thornton ready to jump in. The Joslin fight I mentioned had someone ready to jump in to save him. Like...why the coddling? He's supposed to be this bad ass but he's apparently above The Code when it comes to the Smyth incident?

Then you get Johnson on Team USA and he is a career plus player and he runs around like the asshole we thought we were getting. I have to believe that this happens because he can do that stuff and not have to answer for it. There just seems to be a discomfort to his NHL game that vanishes when he plays for Team USA and was definitely not there when he was physically superior to his peers as a teenager.

The lack of a toolbox can be overcome a bit if he adds that legit physical element but he wilted at the NHL level in that regard. I think his bully play and attitude helped his scoring totals before entering the NHL and, now that I think about it, Lombardi probably realized that Johnson was not the "tiger" he thought he traded for and was actually the kitty cat with stripes painted on it after his first full season in 2008. Hello Colten Teubert pick.

I don't have an issue with NCAA development, but this is a guy that needed to be in the CHL and not be allowed to run around with a full cage on for two years while being the big man on campus.

I was a bit disappointed when Dean signed him he promised Johnson he wouldn't be spending any time in Manchester. Johnson should have been playing in the AHL playoffs and sent down to work on his game a bit during the regular season.

 

[BigKing]

I might be able to shed some light on what happened.

I once sent an email to Dean Lombardi asking him if it was a player decision or coaching decision to pull the reigns on Jacks fighting as he had been aggressive those first few games and then nothing.......

Imagine my excitement as Dean actually wrote back. While I don't have the email any longer, I can remember exactly what he wrote........ "I don't know - Dean"

I can only imagine the amount of idiotic emails he got from idiots like me......and sorry I didn't really shed any light on this for you.

That's awesome.

 

[Matt13]

If it was a good question, Dean responded more than people know, especially in the early years.

So you're saying it was a good question.

This may be the best and worst post I've read in a really long time. Well done.

I appreciate the recognition from a poster of your level.

 

[tny760]

something so bizarre in modern terms about an NHL exec responding to fan emails, much less with a response that ridiculous

i feel like someone would write an article about it if one of them responded to a tweet at all nowadays

 

[jfont]

Let's not forget he was betrayed by his parents and that he's basically divorced himself from them. Moreover, this also led to some financial instability in his life. This may have put some added pressure in his on-ice performance. I think we should put perspective with regards to JJ. And no, I'm not his agent.

 

[Stimpythecat]

If JMFJ's agent was responsible for that contract (and not Crosby as rumored) then that agent needs to be canonized by the players.

Yikes. 3 more years of that.

 

[BringTheReign]

If JMFJ's agent was responsible for that contract (and not Crosby as rumored) then that agent needs to be canonized by the players.

Yikes. 3 more years of that.

It's even more surprising given Rutherford's penchant for assembling "sneaky good" defense cores. Marino, Pettersson, and Dumoulin were all traded for on the cheap and are studs. His Cup-winning defense in Carolina wasn't flashy either, but it got the job done.

I have to think Crosby put in a word there, but who knows. Luke Schenn and Erik Gudbranson have kind of turned it around, so perhaps he thought Johnson could too in the right situation.

 

[BigKing]

It's even more surprising given Rutherford's penchant for assembling "sneaky good" defense cores. Marino, Pettersson, and Dumoulin were all traded for on the cheap and are studs. His Cup-winning defense in Carolina wasn't flashy either, but it got the job done.

I have to think Crosby put in a word there, but who knows. Luke Schenn and Erik Gudbranson have kind of turned it around, so perhaps he thought Johnson could too in the right situation.

Rutherford just had to have the Jack Johnson experience he missed out on when he traded him to LA.

 

[Jericho111091]

I feel sorry for Jack for what his parents did to him, but jeez that was a brutal performance

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Jack was a dude who got by on upper body strength and when he ran into NHLers who drove through their legs couldn't do a thing about it. The guy delivered hits with both hands out all the time, I can't remember him ever just driving a shoulder. Guys just manhandled him. Terrible technique.

 

[tbrown33]

Jack was a dude who got by on upper body strength and when he ran into NHLers who drove through their legs couldn't do a thing about it. The guy delivered hits with both hands out all the time, I can't remember him ever just driving a shoulder. Guys just manhandled him. Terrible technique.

I actually went on a search for JJ hits. Here’s what I found LOL

I mean, he’s good at blind-siding people?

Looks like he only likes to go for it when the forward is vulnerable:

 

[BigKing]

His biggest hit. Bonus at the end with Blake not letting Laperriere fight Johnson who, to his credit, has his gloves off and would have at least wrestled around with him.

Again, I don't understand the need to baby him like that. He just put one of the other team's best players in to the turnbuckle and they've got Scott Parker over on the bench. Just let Lappy fight him and be done with it.

 

[cyclones22]

I'll just remember him for two things. The patented JJ head fake skating with the puck back towards his own net which never fooled a single player. Scoring the game winner in OT vs the Rangers in Sweden which fulfilled the prophecy that every team that won in Sweden to start the season won the Cup.

 

[DryIslandBartender]

His biggest hit. Bonus at the end with Blake not letting Laperriere fight Johnson who, to his credit, has his gloves off and would have at least wrestled around with him.

Again, I don't understand the need to baby him like that. He just put one of the other team's best players in to the turnbuckle and they've got Scott Parker over on the bench. Just let Lappy fight him and be done with it.

I was at that game, Avs fans wanted blood.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

There was also that two year period in the playoffs in 2010 and 2011 where the Kings PP actually clicked and Johnson produced 12 points in 12 playoff games. That's about it as far as highlights go during his stint in LA.

He never produced those big numbers or became this physical force he was made out to be, mostly because he wasn't playing against college kids any longer. Bulis sending him head over heels in his NHL debut should've been a wake up call.

There's another overhyped American defenseman in Erik Johnson, whose career has been fairly disappointing for a #1 overall pick. He was supposed to be a franchise defenseman, and all he's really been is just an adequate dman who can't stay healthy.

 

[Jericho111091]

If Ovy and Kovy had a lovechild how sexy would it's goalscoring prowess be?

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

There was also that two year period in the playoffs in 2010 and 2011 where the Kings PP actually clicked and Johnson produced 12 points in 12 playoff games. That's about it as far as highlights go during his stint in LA.

He never produced those big numbers or became this physical force he was made out to be, mostly because he wasn't playing against college kids any longer. Bulis sending him head over heels in his NHL debut should've been a wake up call.

There's another overhyped American defenseman in Erik Johnson, whose career has been fairly disappointing for a #1 overall pick. He was supposed to be a franchise defenseman, and all he's really been is just an adequate dman who can't stay healthy.

It really did look like everything clicked and he was due for a breakout right there. Him and Doughty were absolutely unstoppable on the PP for a few games. I'll never forget the buildup in the arena in those playoff games vs. the Canucks when we got a PP. Honestly he seems like a likeable dude and he has the skillset to at least be a good #2 but the brain just never caught up. A guy with lesser tools and a better brain in muzzin ended up being the perfect Doughty partner, but you can always at least see what people were thinking (hoping, anyway) with Jack.