The Toronto Maple Leafs blue-line is a never ending discussion.
Now TSN’s Darren Dreger says he would be “shocked” if the Toronto Maple Leafs hadn’t inquired about Columbus defenseman Jack Johnson.
Dreger: I'd be shocked if Lou Lamoriello hasn't called Blue Jackets about Jack Johnson https://t.co/Lqz1rExVov
— TSN 1050 Toronto (@TSN1050Radio) January 26, 2018
Personally, considering that Jack Johnson is not very good, is left-handed, and fits absolutely none of the Leafs needs, I’d be shocked if they had. If they aren’t reading that tweet and laughing about it, I’d be even more shocked. Frankly, it’s ridiculous.
Long thought to be a team weakness, the Toronto Maple Leafs blue line is actually looking quite impressive to me. The play of Travis Dermott and Connor Carrick has been absolutely fantastic. Morgan Rielly would be on the All-Star team if he was healthy, and he’d be going to Korea if the NHL was in the Olympics. Jake Gardiner has been one of the best players in the NHL over the last two weeks. Zaitsev is incredibly underrated.
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Additionally, the Leafs have Andreas Borgman, Rinat Valiev, Calle Rosen and the crowned jewel of their system, Timothy Liljegren. The Leafs – in their first post-rebuild season – are pretty well set on the blue-line despite near constant talk otherwise.
Sure, I’d love to see them make a play for Chris Tanev or Jakob Trouba, but unless they’re going to go big, why bother?
Jack Johnson, Are you Kidding Me?
Jack Johnson is a left-handed defenseman. The Leafs already have so many of those that Dermott and Hainsey play the wrong side. Jack Johnson is significantly worse than Morgan Rielly and Jake Gardiner. Like, he’s not even close to as good as those guys.
Johnson has never been a positive possession player since joining the Blue Jackets. He’s four seasons removed from his 40 point season (and as he’d be – at best – a bottom pairing player on the Leafs, he wouldn’t see the ice with player who could make that happen, even if he was still capable of scoring that much, which he’s not).
Johnson is 31 and he’s making $4 million per season. That means he’s too old for the Leafs and too expensive for what he does. He’s a bad defensive defenseman who’s scoring has never outpaced his penchant for being constantly out-shot while on the ice.
Jack Johnson in his prime couldn’t beat out Gardiner or Rielly for ice time, and he sure as hell can’t do it now. Why would the Leafs acquire an expensive player who would take ice-time away from Dermott, Carrick or Borgman? They wouldn’t.
You can guarantee that Darren Dreger is shocked, because the Leafs would have no interest in this player. The only way they do is if Lou Lamoriello has completely lost his mind, and Kyle Dubas is locked away somewhere.
Jack Johnson is to puck moving defenseman as Roman Polak is to defensive defenseman.
The Toronto Maple Leafs wouldn’t claim him if he was on waivers.
Enough said.