LD Lucas Johansen (2016, 28th, WSH)

[Jayevs]

I would definitely take him with a 1st. Smart steady presence with a big frame and is the go to guy on the blue line at 17. Not to mention it's the rockets, one of the best junior teams a dman can develop.

 

[Breakers]

6'4 now

I don't know where this rumor started, but it happens with different prospects throughout the years on their "actual size"

Lucas Johansen is 6'1.

Brad Ralph was interviewed was on TSN and confirmed he isn't 6'4 in an interview. Maybe someone measured him with skates.

He could be 6'4 down the road though

 

[landy92mack29]

I absolutely love this kid! I'd take him over some of the other defencemen in the late 1st. Great size with potential to grow, great in his own zone, great skater, thinks the game well and has offensive upside


Steal if he slides past the 65th pick imo

Steal if he makes it past the 40th pick. Could see him sneak into the late 1st like Juulsen last year.

 

[Nalyd Psycho]

How does he compare with Clague?

 

[SmartPuck]

How does he compare with Clague?

Not nearly as explosive or dynamic but is bigger, plays a better defensive game and has more edge. Both will be 2nd rounders and I bet Clague gets picked 10-15 spots higher.

 

[Vancity96]

I would love to take him or Benson with our second round pick. Both home grown talents that can make an impact with the rest of our upcoming core.

 

[Our Lady Peace]

Had an assist tonight and was doing so many things right. I can't say enough good things about this guy. Just an awesome player.

In addition to all I've said before, I've noticed when a puck is dumped in and him and the forechecker are chasing it into the corner, he's absolutely marvelous at skating in there and positioning his body so the other player is literally voided from doing anything effective on the forecheck. In doing so, it gives him one open side to move the puck out to free of danger and transition up ice.

One thing I will say is that I wish he would assert his offensive skill more often because I know it's there. Tonight he had a rush up the ice where he carried it from his zone, decided to split two defenders and enter the zone cleanly and feed it to the left winger for a scoring chance.

As said above, steal if he goes past 40 or whatever but I'm kinda secretly hoping he drops for some miraculous reason.

 

[Shareefruck]

Hoping Vancouver picks him up with their second. Really like his game.

He's so creative and smart. Does so many simple, suddle, efficient, yet effective things out there.

Hehehe...

 

[Our Lady Peace]

Hoping Vancouver picks him up with their second. Really like his game.
Hehehe...

oooops. Fixed

 

[Byron Bitz]

Is he a better prospect than Travis Dermott?

 

[Mancesco Franquilini]

I grew up with Ryan and therefore also got to see a lot of Lucas growing up.

Great family, great character kid and was always a pleasure to watch grow up.

Whatever team picks him up is getting a character individual. He's a hard worker like his brother and is extremely competitive too. The type of kid who's easily coachable and you just want to be around.

 

[ps241]

I grew up with Ryan and therefore also got to see a lot of Lucas growing up.

Great family, great character kid and was always a pleasure to watch grow up.

Whatever team picks him up is getting a character individual. He's a hard worker like his brother and is extremely competitive too. The type of kid who's easily coachable and you just want to be around.

Thanks

Always like this type of post.

 

[Mancesco Franquilini]

Thanks

Always like this type of post.

Absolutely

 

[mazmin]

I grew up with Ryan and therefore also got to see a lot of Lucas growing up.

Great family, great character kid and was always a pleasure to watch grow up.

Whatever team picks him up is getting a character individual. He's a hard worker like his brother and is extremely competitive too. The type of kid who's easily coachable and you just want to be around.

Jets MGMT likes their character kids so I could see Lucas going 36th overall. Maybe a bit high for some but Jets will reach for someone they like.

 

[Our Lady Peace]

Well, the Rockets bowed out in 4 games vs Seattle tonight and Johansen finished with 8 points in 18 games in the playoffs. He had 49 points in 69 games in the regular season.

He's the Rockets best defenseman and I expect him to increase his offensive output next year by quite a bit. He's already a rock defensively and has very good offensive skills. His shot needs a bit of work but his shot selection is very good. He's smart and is a true student of the game.

I really do believe his potential is very high but there's no doubt he's at least an NHLer. He's coachable, and has the drive and smarts. Johansen just has a great head on his shoulders.

He'll probably go early 2nd but the team that drafts him is no doubt in my mind getting a great player and person.

 

[LastWordArmy]

Our report

http://lastwordonsports.com/2016/04/30/lucas-johansen-scouting-report-2016-nhl-draft-32/

 

[wings5]

Can someone tell me about Johansen, is he a Tanev type dman? Vlasic maybe? One of NA the players slated to go in the first two rounds I haven't seen play, just looking for more info.

 

[S E P H]

Can someone tell me about Johansen, is he a Tanev type dman? Vlasic maybe? One of NA the players slated to go in the first two rounds I haven't seen play, just looking for more info.

I like the Tanev comparison. Johansen is one of those good at everything, but not great at anything type of players. He has mobility, though nothing special in the modern NHL, a good rate of hockey knowledge, and some physical tools that could be worked on for the future.

Possesses a pretty good shot, but I quite like his passing ability as one of his main strengths. The problem though, is that he has some "John-Michael Liles" syndrome, where he ALWAYS circles back when he feels pressure. It retains puck control and possession, but it also lets the opposing team the time to gather back and regroup on the blue line. Defensively he has a really good active stick with cutting down passing options and pokechecking, but not a physically intimidating player. He doesn't shy away from contact, but doesn't really care about dishing it out either.

He got an absurd amount of points on the powerplay this year, but everything I've seen doesn't really give me the hype that his offensive prowess will carry over to the pro ranks. I still think he's going to be a good NHL player, but I strictly had him and still have him as a mid-pairing defensive-defenseman with some good puck moving ability. His puck moving won't be because of his skating (which is just above-average), but due to his good passing and a decent amount of hockey IQ....like Tanev (though he's probably a better skater).

I consider him a middle to late second round material, but he's probably going to go higher than that, which I don't necessarily agree with.

 

[Hammer Slammer]

Had an assist tonight and was doing so many things right. I can't say enough good things about this guy. Just an awesome player.

In addition to all I've said before, I've noticed when a puck is dumped in and him and the forechecker are chasing it into the corner, he's absolutely marvelous at skating in there and positioning his body so the other player is literally voided from doing anything effective on the forecheck. In doing so, it gives him one open side to move the puck out to free of danger and transition up ice.

One thing I will say is that I wish he would assert his offensive skill more often because I know it's there. Tonight he had a rush up the ice where he carried it from his zone, decided to split two defenders and enter the zone cleanly and feed it to the left winger for a scoring chance.

As said above, steal if he goes past 40 or whatever but I'm kinda secretly hoping he drops for some miraculous reason.

I'm going to be doing a full game shift by shift look at a few of the d-men in the draft. Is April 15th a good game to go with or do you know of a game that would give us a good idea of his play?

Made up a highlight video a couple days ago for him, but I feel like a full game breakdown would give me and everyone else a better idea of how he plays.

 

[Our Lady Peace]

Thanks for that highlight video of Johansen! For him, a shift by shift video would be best suitable. Defensively is where he surely excels.

 

[Zaddy]

I like the Tanev comparison. Johansen is one of those good at everything, but not great at anything type of players. He has mobility, though nothing special in the modern NHL, a good rate of hockey knowledge, and some physical tools that could be worked on for the future.

Possesses a pretty good shot, but I quite like his passing ability as one of his main strengths. The problem though, is that he has some "John-Michael Liles" syndrome, where he ALWAYS circles back when he feels pressure. It retains puck control and possession, but it also lets the opposing team the time to gather back and regroup on the blue line. Defensively he has a really good active stick with cutting down passing options and pokechecking, but not a physically intimidating player. He doesn't shy away from contact, but doesn't really care about dishing it out either.

He got an absurd amount of points on the powerplay this year, but everything I've seen doesn't really give me the hype that his offensive prowess will carry over to the pro ranks. I still think he's going to be a good NHL player, but I strictly had him and still have him as a mid-pairing defensive-defenseman with some good puck moving ability. His puck moving won't be because of his skating (which is just above-average), but due to his good passing and a decent amount of hockey IQ....like Tanev (though he's probably a better skater).

I consider him a middle to late second round material, but he's probably going to go higher than that, which I don't necessarily agree with.

Great post. Mirrors my thoughts quite well. I've always found it hard to justify using a late 1st / early 2nd round pick on Johansen in the mocks I've participated in. He's a great all-around defenseman but I just don't see any elite or potential elite traits in his game. Middle-pairing defensive d-man sounds about right. Just a player that's hard to get excited about, even though he is a very fine prospect.

 

[Our Lady Peace]

I'm going to be doing a full game shift by shift look at a few of the d-men in the draft. Is April 15th a good game to go with or do you know of a game that would give us a good idea of his play?

Made up a highlight video a couple days ago for him, but I feel like a full game breakdown would give me and everyone else a better idea of how he plays.

Also, which games are you able to extract? I do concur that April 15th (I was actually at that game haha) would be a good one to showcase if you didn't have many to choose from.

 

[Hammer Slammer]

Also, which games are you able to extract? I do concur that April 15th (I was actually at that game haha) would be a good one to showcase if you didn't have many to choose from.

Anything that's on WHL Live really. Archive games are only 4 bucks so I don't mind doing that if I'm going to watch the whole game. I think I'd prefer something later in the season because they might've improved over the year.

And I'm trying to shy away from recording an obvious game where they score 3 or 4 points haha.

 

[Woodhouse]

28th to WSH.

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

Don't mind the guy but IMO his last name is the reason why he was picked this high... Im sure he will turn well but Caps could have traded back and taken him mid 2nd I think