therealkoho
Him/Leaf/fan
exactly Sypher, Babcock was looking for a way for him to find his game just as he did w/Nylander and Marner.Nobody expected that. We were quite clear on what he is. A generally solid defensive player who kills offense and was playing far too many minutes.
As for his defensive game waning. That happened well before Babcock made the change. Both in terms of moving him down the lines AND taking him out of the lineup
and you've said it yourself "player who kills offense" this tells me there was some sort of expectation deep down to produce at a higher level and that hasn't been his game for a few years, but man is he wily on the kill at least until he got hurt and couldn't push off with his left skate anymore, Johnsson's playing time at that point increased