Confirmed with Link: Devils acquire Andreas Johnsson from Toronto for Joey Anderson

[Blackjack]

I love Anderson and really hate to see him go, but this is an absolute no brainer.

I've been turning the trade over in my head. I disagree with the idea that Johnsson now is Anderson's ceiling, I think his potential is more than that, but I also think this is a trade that had to be done. They just didn't have enough quality on the wing. These are important developmental years for Hughes, Hischier, and Bratt, and you have to surround them with capable supporting forwards. Johnsson's down year last year does bother me, hopefully it's just a blip.

It's funny that the "win now" team trades the guy that's currently productive for a similar guy that they hope will be productive in 2-3 years, and the rebuilding team gives up a cheaper, younger guy with some upside for a somewhat expensive depth scorer. I do enjoy that they clowned Pittsburgh in terms of return on the Kapanen/Johnsson duo.

 

[Blackjack]

Hey Devils fans! What can Leafs fans except of Joey Anderson?
I remember liking him back at the WJR's but has he progressed well?
Any chance he can push for a bottom 6 role sooner rather than later?

take care of Mango.

I think he'll make the Leafs this year and be good in a bottom six role, I think Dubas probably expects the same. The offense hasn't come in at the NHL level yet, but he scored in the AHL, and our season last year was chaotic and no one really scored a lot. His underlying metrics are good and he passes the eye test. This might not match the Kapanen return, but Joey's a good player and it hurts to give him up.

 

[AfroThunder396]

Looking at all the guys who will be competing for bottom six spots, there's just too many of them. Wood, Zacha, Kuokkanen, McLeod, Bastian, Anderson, Merkley, Seney, there's just too many bodies. You can't play all of these guys. We also have a lot of really high character sparkplug guys in the system in Talvitie, Mercer, Moynihan, etc.

There's a lot to like in Anderson. But I really liked Matt Halischuk too, and I think Anderson is closer to Halischuk than he is to Langenbrunner.

I think Johnsson will round out our forward group nicely. IMO he's not a permanent solution. I think this year is more of a transition year - new coach, low expectations. Most of this year will be about Lindy establishing his culture and working on growth and consistency. '21-'22 I think Foote and Holtz make the team, and Smith will be established as a regular (this year I think he'll either split time in Bingo or get heavily sheltered). That's when the fun will really start. Hopefully by then AJ will be forced lower down the lineup buy internal players, but until then he is a fine top-6 option.

 

[Guttersniped]

Hey Devils fans! What can Leafs fans except of Joey Anderson?
I remember liking him back at the WJR's but has he progressed well?
Any chance he can push for a bottom 6 role sooner rather than later?

take care of Mango.

I assumed he was going to play in the NHL this year, the only question is if his offensive production would continue to grow enough to stick permanently because unlike most young forwards he was solid defensively. Obviously are under a lot more pressure to win but Joey won’t hurt you if he’s in the line up.

 

[My3Sons]

I’d set up lines to start as

Bratt Nico Gusev
Mango Jack Palms
Zacha Zajac Kuokkanen
Wood McLeod Bastian
Merkley

the team still needs some bigger guys that can eventually play top six with Hughes as I see it.

The defense is probably something like

Murray Sevs
Butcher PK
Xxxx xxxx
Carrick

I expect that Smith is playing on the third pair by mid season. I’m concerned about watching Butcher on a second pair but unless the team can find a legit second pair guy fhey likely have to run Butcher out there.

 

[Leaf Rocket]

heres hoping it works out for you. mango can shine really well if given the right opportunity and if healthy. he's gone through a lot but he's a fighter. heres hoping nothing but the best ya guys. Funny enough one of the reason he started to have issues with his health was becuase of your farm team...in the playoffs which gave him a concussion, ever since i was bitter towards the devils farm team, and i think we won it all the year later against you gusy and mango going nuts for vengeance.

 

[Triumph]

I don't love giving up Anderson only because he's the only guy with that skill set that the Devils really have. They don't have a lot of penalty killing, defensive-type forwards in their system. Maltsev's one, maybe. Thompson might be one also. That's what Moynihan profiles as, we'll see how it goes. And that's what McLeod will be if he's going to make it.

That penalty killing use doesn't make him valuable per se, and it's not necessarily hard to find it elsewhere, but it was nice to have that sort of player in the system. It would've been nice to get a low-round pick also in this deal given how much we're bailing the Leafs out here - not only are we giving them a young, cheap player, but we're giving them one who is not eligible for an offer sheet.

But I like Johnsson and think he'll do nicely here.

 

[glenwo2]

Great trade for you guys. You got a 20 goal, 50 point hard working middle 6 forward. You'll like him. He grinds, can score goals and seems to be loved by teammates. 7th rounder who had to work to make it.

He and Bratt should share notes.

Bratt : "I made it to the NHL after being drafted in the 6th round!"

Johnsson : "Well I made it after being drafted in the 7th round!!"


Bratt : "....."

Bratt : "....I got nothing."

 

[glenwo2]

Sal approves

But they're soft, Sal!


@Ripshot 43 put up a giant picture of toilet paper to even show you that!!

You guys will like Johnsson. His nickname is/ was "mango". Good shot, plays in dirty areas despise his size.

Love the Mango nickname. Can’t wait to see what the kid can do for us.

So we go from Pickles (Blake Coleman) to Mango (Andreas Johnsson)?

I'm okay with this.

 

[MadDevil]

We should bring Josefson back so we can have Yayo and Mango.

 

[StevenToddIves]

I'm piping in on all the Devils acquisitions, because why not. I've already written how much I love the trade for Murray and the signing of Crawford. I'm going to say that with Johnsson -- though I do not despise the deal, I don't particularly love it either.

Andreas Johnsson's greatest strength is probably his lack of a weakness. He's a pretty good passer and shooter, a pretty good passer, he's pretty good two ways and he's not soft, so he gives you a decent net-front presence, where he has pretty good hands.

Because of this, Johnsson is the type of guy a coach can slot up and down the line-up. If your top-line winger is hurt for a week, you can slot him up to a top 6 role and he'll be fine. If you play him as a regular on your third line, he'll be decent there too, and he'll pop in more points than your average third-liner.

But we're also talking about a player who is coming off a 21 point season in 43 games despite playing on a high-octane offense team alongside elite talent, and getting significant minutes on the 2PP. True, he scored 20 goals the year before, but that was with an unnaturally large shooting percentage which may not be sustainable. So, my conclusion about Johnsson is he's a solid NHL player with some maneuverability, but he's not a guy who moves the needle and he's making $3.4 million for the next three seasons.

The reason I don't love the deal is that I am convinced that, by the end of it, Joey Anderson will be a superior player. I think Anderson is just as capable as a 40+ point season playing with top scorers, and I think he's a superior two-way player with a superior compete level.

I understand Fitzgerald's thinking on this -- draft picks of RWs Holtz and Mercer made Anderson organizationally expendable, and Johnsson will make the Devils better in 2020-21. This is tough to argue with. But considering how desperate the Leafs were to get rid of Johnsson's cap hit (they were over the cap and actually will be again after re-signing their two RFAs), I don't think NJ needed to give up anything of value to get Johnsson and his contract.

Again, I don't want it to seem like I'm shredding the organization -- this trade is not terrible any way you look at it. And I do agree that Anderson was expendable. But I can't help but think that -- in the very near future -- the Devils or any NHL team would be much better off with Anderson on their third line than with Johnsson on their second line, and Anderson will be about $2 million cheaper.

Ultimately, I will wish Joey the best of luck in Toronto. Lord knows, they need players with his compete level in their soft bottom 6, and I think he'll become a big fan favorite there pretty soon. And I think it's certainly possible that Johnsson rebounds for a 35-40 point season with the Devils this year, with the major minutes he will receive in the top 6.

 

[Nubmer6]

We should bring Josefson back so we can have Yayo and Mango.

Ya, uh... no no.

 

[glenwo2]

Ya, uh... no no.

You mean YaNO instead of YaYo.

 

[EnglishDevil]

I understand Fitzgerald's thinking on this -- draft picks of RWs Holtz and Mercer made Anderson organizationally expendable, and Johnsson will make the Devils better in 2020-21. This is tough to argue with. But considering how desperate the Leafs were to get rid of Johnsson's cap hit (they were over the cap and actually will be again after re-signing their two RFAs), I don't think NJ needed to give up anything of value to get Johnsson and his contract.

Again, I don't want it to seem like I'm shredding the organization -- this trade is not terrible any way you look at it. And I do agree that Anderson was expendable. But I can't help but think that -- in the very near future -- the Devils or any NHL team would be much better off with Anderson on their third line than with Johnsson on their second line, and Anderson will be about $2 million cheaper.

Ultimately, I will wish Joey the best of luck in Toronto. Lord knows, they need players with his compete level in their soft bottom 6, and I think he'll become a big fan favorite there pretty soon. And I think it's certainly possible that Johnsson rebounds for a 35-40 point season with the Devils this year, with the major minutes he will receive in the top 6.

I'm not at all convinced Johnsson is meant to be a long term solution in the top six; realistically speaking he's paid the going rate for a good third liner and that's probably what he'll be for us, not to mention we have him locked up for three years and he's only 25 years old, it's not beyond comprehension that his game can still improve a little bit.

I take the proven NHL commodity all day long. I don't disagree with you that Anderson is a nice prospect but I personally view his 'ceilin'g as pretty low, at the very least considerably lower than that of the two right wings we just drafted in Holtz & Mercer. Perhaps down the road Anderson is the better player, but I doubt that'll be the case for at least the next two seasons and we desperately need players to help us improve immediately, our organization is absolutely loaded with 'potential' but we need some of it to start materializing. I'm not as high on Anderson as others but I can definitely live with the small chance that he eventually exceeds what Johansson brings to the table, to me it's far more important that we finally take some strides forward at the NHL level instead of being a perennial dumpster fire with a ton of prospects.

I'm curious as to where you'd rate Anderson amongst our winger prospects? I'd have Holtz, Mercer, Foote & Boqvist ahead of him at the very least; I know stylistically they're all different players but I never really felt Anderson did anything to distinguish himself from the second tier of winger prospects like Kuokkanen, Thompson, Talvitie, Moynihan, Bastian & Zetterlund. He maybe absolutely end up better than some of those guys, but to me he was always just another guy with an alright chance of becoming a bottom six winger at best.

 

[beekay414]

I'm sure people are gonna miss Joey but Andreas is a proven middle 6 winger. Joey was a hopeful 3rd liner. This is a home run deal.

 

[Brooklyndevil]

I haven’t seen Andreas play, so I can’t really comment on the player. But from what other people are saying, he sounds like he will definitely help us. I will also miss Joey. Yea, he has that compete level we all love, former captain of Team USA, and a smart trustworthy player. It’s also true we have a boatload of kids who hopefully are ready to fill in the some of those 3/4 forward slots. As was posted, sometimes you have to give to receive. It’s a hockey deal, which may benefit both teams, I guess and hope. I still would have liked adding Fast and moving Wood and Butcher. Maybe Wood who I don’t dislike and root for ever year to be better will have a solid season.

 

[brule2000]

I still don't like the Coleman trade (Foote and Mukhamadullin look to be a poor return, albeit with plenty of time to develop into something) but consoled myself that Anderson was an obvious replacement for his tenacity and non-stop willingness to compete while understanding his role.

I guess Fitzgerald wouldn't have taken long to have shown the player he himself was out of the door. Perhaps he undervalues this type of player because he played that way himself.

Shero appeared to have a clear plan to improve the team and I feel he was released prematurely when he refused to blow it up following the disastrous start to last season. So far Fitz just seems to be thrashing about in the dark to appease ownership with lots of changes. I don't feel he's made huge mis-steps but he doesn't fill me with confidence that he has much of a map for here he wants to go.

 

[Team Concept]

Looking at all the guys who will be competing for bottom six spots, there's just too many of them. Wood, Zacha, Kuokkanen, McLeod, Bastian, Anderson, Merkley, Seney, there's just too many bodies. You can't play all of these guys. We also have a lot of really high character sparkplug guys in the system in Talvitie, Mercer, Moynihan, etc.

There's a lot to like in Anderson. But I really liked Matt Halischuk too, and I think Anderson is closer to Halischuk than he is to Langenbrunner.

I think Johnsson will round out our forward group nicely. IMO he's not a permanent solution. I think this year is more of a transition year - new coach, low expectations. Most of this year will be about Lindy establishing his culture and working on growth and consistency. '21-'22 I think Foote and Holtz make the team, and Smith will be established as a regular (this year I think he'll either split time in Bingo or get heavily sheltered). That's when the fun will really start. Hopefully by then AJ will be forced lower down the lineup buy internal players, but until then he is a fine top-6 option.

Foote and Holtz are not making this team. They are set at LW with Johnssson-Bratt-Kuokkanen-Wood. There is no room for Foote.

Holtz has a contract for this year in the SHL.

 

[Buggsy]

I still don't like the Coleman trade (Foote and Mukhamadullin look to be a poor return, albeit with plenty of time to develop into something) but consoled myself that Anderson was an obvious replacement for his tenacity and non-stop willingness to compete while understanding his role.

I guess Fitzgerald wouldn't have taken long to have shown the player he himself was out of the door. Perhaps he undervalues this type of player because he played that way himself.

Shero appeared to have a clear plan to improve the team and I feel he was released prematurely when he refused to blow it up following the disastrous start to last season. So far Fitz just seems to be thrashing about in the dark to appease ownership with lots of changes. I don't feel he's made huge mis-steps but he doesn't fill me with confidence that he has much of a map for here he wants to go.

I don't think I could disagree more with your post.

The return for Coleman was good to great. A big bodied scoring winger prospect and a big body top 4 defenceman prospect is a great return.

Johansson by all accounts is also a relentless forechecker/player. It looks like he replaces Coleman better than Anderson would have currently.

Our free agent moves are low risk high reward for a team needing established depth badly. How are the Murray, Crawford and Johnsson moves thrashing in the dark to appease ownership?

 

[TheGroceryStick]

I'm not going to act like I know anderson. So I cant speak on his loss for you guys.

But you got a good player in Johnsson; a casualty we knew was coming...but a good hockey player when healthy.

He will put up consistently decent numbers and has the ability to play up and down the lineup.

 

[Billdo]

Looking at all the guys who will be competing for bottom six spots, there's just too many of them. Wood, Zacha, Kuokkanen, McLeod, Bastian, Anderson, Merkley, Seney, there's just too many bodies. You can't play all of these guys. We also have a lot of really high character sparkplug guys in the system in Talvitie, Mercer, Moynihan, etc.

There's a lot to like in Anderson. But I really liked Matt Halischuk too, and I think Anderson is closer to Halischuk than he is to Langenbrunner.

I think Johnsson will round out our forward group nicely. IMO he's not a permanent solution. I think this year is more of a transition year - new coach, low expectations. Most of this year will be about Lindy establishing his culture and working on growth and consistency. '21-'22 I think Foote and Holtz make the team, and Smith will be established as a regular (this year I think he'll either split time in Bingo or get heavily sheltered). That's when the fun will really start. Hopefully by then AJ will be forced lower down the lineup buy internal players, but until then he is a fine top-6 option.

Gronborg is going to have a blast coaching Holtz, Bratt, Johnsson, Boqvist in 2022...

 

[Team Concept]

I still don't like the Coleman trade (Foote and Mukhamadullin look to be a poor return, albeit with plenty of time to develop into something) but consoled myself that Anderson was an obvious replacement for his tenacity and non-stop willingness to compete while understanding his role.

I guess Fitzgerald wouldn't have taken long to have shown the player he himself was out of the door. Perhaps he undervalues this type of player because he played that way himself.

Shero appeared to have a clear plan to improve the team and I feel he was released prematurely when he refused to blow it up following the disastrous start to last season. So far Fitz just seems to be thrashing about in the dark to appease ownership with lots of changes. I don't feel he's made huge mis-steps but he doesn't fill me with confidence that he has much of a map for here he wants to go.

I disagree. Prior to the offseason it was clear what positions needed to filled and/or improved. He is almost finished.

Murray replaces Mueller
Crawford replaces Schneider
He needed a LW unless he believed that either Foote or Boqvist could fill the role.
He needed another LD, but Smith although a righty shot who plays on the left side so as of now he needs a RD and Carrick is D7

By acquiring Johnsson it fills the LW, but now creates an opening at RW. So he needs a RW and a RD. There are internal options at RW with Bastian, McLeod, and Merkley. I already had Merkley as RW4, but I don't think Bastian and McLeod should make the team.

So he still needs RW3 and RD3.

 

[NjdevilfanJim]

I still don't like the Coleman trade (Foote and Mukhamadullin look to be a poor return, albeit with plenty of time to develop into something) but consoled myself that Anderson was an obvious replacement for his tenacity and non-stop willingness to compete while understanding his role.

I guess Fitzgerald wouldn't have taken long to have shown the player he himself was out of the door. Perhaps he undervalues this type of player because he played that way himself.

Shero appeared to have a clear plan to improve the team and I feel he was released prematurely when he refused to blow it up following the disastrous start to last season. So far Fitz just seems to be thrashing about in the dark to appease ownership with lots of changes. I don't feel he's made huge mis-steps but he doesn't fill me with confidence that he has much of a map for here he wants to go.

Time will tell on your post but just remember Shero was all out on signing Hall and had he done it it would have sunk us as a franchise.....sunk us with an overpriced whiner at 10 11 mil per now lucky if he gets 6 or 7 .....Doesn't mean I hated everything about Shero but so far I think Fitz has done pretty good he's definitely bringing in talented big bodies into the system which is good to see.....Also nobody wanted to see Coleman go but 9 out of 10 GM's make that trade......And Fitz had to do it replacing a mentor and friend .....I do thank Shero for trading Hall.

 

[Monsieur Verdoux]

Time will tell on your post but just remember Shero was all out on signing Hall and had he done it it would have sunk us as a franchise.....sunk us with an overpriced whiner at 10 11 mil per now lucky if he gets 6 or 7 .....Doesn't mean I hated everything about Shero but so far I think Fitz has done pretty good he's definitely bringing in talented big bodies into the system which is good to see.....Also nobody wanted to see Coleman go but 9 out of 10 GM's make that trade......And Fitz had to do it replacing a mentor and friend .....I do thank Shero for trading Hall.

I don't think this is true.

 

[ChicksDigTheTrap]

Time will tell on your post but just remember Shero was all out on signing Hall and had he done it it would have sunk us as a franchise.....sunk us with an overpriced whiner at 10 11 mil per now lucky if he gets 6 or 7 .....Doesn't mean I hated everything about Shero but so far I think Fitz has done pretty good he's definitely bringing in talented big bodies into the system which is good to see.....Also nobody wanted to see Coleman go but 9 out of 10 GM's make that trade......And Fitz had to do it replacing a mentor and friend .....I do thank Shero for trading Hall.

I do not think there is any evidence Shero was "all out" on signing Hall. In fact, the Devils never made him a serious offer according to reports. Prior to last season, Hall himself stated the Devils were not going to make him an offer until he played games in the regular season. Since Hall played so poorly, I believe the Devils never made him a serious offer.

""I've never, ever heard 'July 1' from either Taylor or his agent," said Shero. "He didn't turn down any offers. He never asked for a trade. He was all-in and very supportive. A really great teammate. But as to a lot of speculation out there that he didn't want to play in N.J. or he wanted to go to July 1 ... teams would ask me what he was looking for, and I'd say I had no idea. I think that's up for them to decide. This was a decision that we made for what's best for where we are. It may have been a harder decision if we were three points out of the playoffs.""

Devils GM: Hall didn't seek trade, just 'right time'


“It seems like both sides are OK with going into camp and into the season without a new contract," Hall said. "It’s really only in the last few years where there’s this whole paranoia about players playing the last season of their contract. So, we have a lot of time. I’m coming off a season where I played 33 games. I think, from the Devils’ perspective and maybe from Ray’s -- I don’t want to speak for him -- but I think they want to see me play and see how I do and see how I fit in with the team and I’m just as excited to see that as well.”

Here’s what Devils’ Taylor Hall, Ray Shero said about forward’s contract talks