Toronto Maple Leafs: How Johnsson and Rosen Impact the Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs announced they had recalled forward Andreas Johnsson and defenceman Calle Rosen from the Toronto Marlies, sending Twitter into a meltdown.

Johnsson’s graduation to the Leafs was long overdue.

Far and away the best forward on the Marlies roster, he’s been knocking on the door ever since the season began. With 54 points in 54 games to his name, Johnsson has continually proved he’s a fish far too big for the AHL’s pond.

Rosen’s promotion, on the other hand, is moderately more surprising.

A left-shot, his arrival is yet another contribution of a skillset the Leafs have in spades. And, unlike Johnsson, Rosen was recalled on an “emergency basis”, meaning Nikita Zaitsev is not the only Leafs defenceman currently nursing an injury.

Both moves undoubtedly impact the makeup of the Leafs’ roster as they head into the playoffs.

Andreas Johnsson

Frankly, there isn’t much left to say about Johnsson this season that hasn’t already been said.

The guy is electric. From the moment he steps foot on the ice, the play is immediately dictated by him. Opponents visibly flinch when he bears down on them, scrambling to contain what is unquestionably a bonafide NHLer travelling at top speed.

Although, the team impacted the most from Johnsson’s call-up is undoubtedly the Marlies.

Since losing key offensive contributors in Kasperi Kapanen, Nikita Soshnikov and Kerby Rychel to trade or promotion, the bulk of that responsibility was placed squarely on Johnsson’s shoulders.

Not only has Johnsson accepted this challenge, he’s been thriving in it.

Unfortunately, the AHL declines to release time on ice data to the public. But, if they did, it wouldn’t be all that surprising to learn Johnsson averages roughly 30 minutes a night.

To the naked eye, he seemingly never leaves the ice.

NHL Impact

Shifting focus back to the Leafs, Mike Babcock confirmed this morning that Johnsson will, in fact, make his NHL debut on Wednesday night against Dallas.

And, as Toronto’s practice lines indicated today, this is a game you won’t want to miss.

Tomas Plekanec lining up in between Johnsson and Kapanen instantly becomes the best fourth line in the entire NHL. Possessing such a high level of speed and skill on their bottom line immediately elevates this Leafs lineup from the distinction of “matchup problem” into “matchup nightmare”.

Not only does this line possess immense offensive potential, but each player is defensively sound in their own right. While Plekanec and Kapanen both remain staples on the Leafs penalty kill, Johnsson isn’t far behind.

For the better part of the season’s second half, Sheldon Keefe has been feeding Johnsson significant shorthanded minutes each night, moulding him into a key contributor on the AHL’s top PK unit.

How many top-five point scorers function as key penalty-killers as well? The answer: not many.

Calle Rosen

Rosen’s progression this season has been fascinating to observe.

When the 24-year-old came over from Sweden in the offseason, two truths regarding his playing style existed primarily as common knowledge:

His skating stride is as smooth as they come and he’s a shot-generating machine.

Fast forward 50 games into his first season with the Marlies and both remain true. Although, Rosen earned his promotion this morning, not from the execution of his strengths, which is expected of him, but from the strides taken in the less glamorous areas instead.

Namely, his decision making.

This progression began in early January when Travis Dermott was promoted to the NHL on a full-time basis. With their best defenceman suddenly gone, Keefe tasked Rosen with a significantly increased workload.

For Rosen, this became the turning point of his season.

In fact, Keefe labelled Rosen, unprompted no less, as the Marlies best defender since Dermott’s call-up. As Nicholas Cage once said, “that’s high praise”.

Patience

Perhaps the area Rosen experienced the most struggles in early on was at the opposing blueline.

Being a player who generates a staggering amount of shots from said area, he became increasingly vulnerable to turnovers, commonly resulting in an odd-man rush. Not exactly a good habit for a defenceman to develop.

Patience, or lack thereof, played a large part in this.

As seen in the clip above, Rosen immediately looks to move the puck once receiving it at the point. This was not uncommon for him.

Rather than turning to face the attacker head on and dumping the puck deep, or simply flipping it cross-ice to his teammate covering the left point, Rosen hacked at it with his backhand and turned it over.

This is the realm where Rosen’s improvement has been the most visible.

Viewing the clip above, Rosen was again faced with an attacking winger rushing the point. Only now, rather than firing the puck off immediately, he patiently walked the line instead, surveying his options and drawing a defender with him.

This opened a shooting lane, eventually culminating in a goal.

Rosen’s new-found patience is just one of the necessary developmental steps he’s taken since October. The player the Leafs will receive is not the same one whose defensive lapses earned him a demotion less than five games into his North American career.

And that is something to get excited about.

Next: Rosen's Puck Luck

Thanks for reading!