Andreas Johnsson Needs to be Playing in Playoffs

Shocking News: the Toronto Maple Leafs have a crazy amount of depth on the wing.

The Leafs have William Nylander, Mitch Marner, Hall of Famer Patrick Marleau, Connor Brown, James van Riemsdyk and his close-to-40-goals, Zach Hyman (playing on one of the NHL’s best 1st lines), which makes up one of, if not the very best groups of six wingers in the NHL.

Then they’ve got the speed, defense and skill of Kasperi Kapanen, the elite defense of Leo Komarov, the grit of Matt Martin, and the incredible shot-volume of Josh Lievo all fighting it out for time in the lineup on the fourth line.

And that doesn’t even include the almost AHL scoring title winner Andreas Johnsson, who has been something of a revelation since he was called up.

The depth is incredible, and no doubt it’s been written about a million times.

But due to the recent play of Andreas Johnsson, we’re going to have to make that a million and one.

Andreas Johnsson

Last night against the Sabres, in a game that saw the Leafs tie their single season team points record, Andreas Johnsson showed by perhaps Leo Komarov (or anyone else not name Mitch, James, William or Patrick) shouldn’t be too secure in their current job situation.

I mean, this guy on the fourth line is an incredible weapon that (along with Kapanen) gives the Leafs a measure of skill on the fourth line that is practically unheard of.

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Last night, in the ninth game of his young NHL career, Johnson scored a goal and added an assist in just under 15 minutes of ice time that even saw him get on the power-play,

So far, in nine games, averaging under 10 minutes of ice-time per game, Johnsson has a 57% possession rating to add to his two goals.

The Corsi rating is nice, but it’s a small sample size. The reason why we’re excited about Johnsson is his pure skill and his speed.

Three points in nine games for a rookie on the fourth line being centered by Tomas Plakanec is actually pretty good. Not to mention the skill on display every time he’s on the ice.

Leo Komarov brings the defense, and the grit – we all know that. We also know that Babcock is not going to let a skilled rookie steal a grinding vets job when he’s the last grinding vet on the team (forwards, at least).

But that doesn’t mean that’s the right choice. Frankly, at this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if Babcock is reconsidering. Andreas Johnson has been that good.

Time to Make the Switch Permanent

And, if Komarov is going to be on the fourth line, is there even really a reason to play him? He’s not going to be shutting down anyone’s top players from the 4LW role.

Whereas Johnsson has put up a 57% CF playing mostly with Plecanek, Komarov is at just 38%, possibly owing to the fact that Johnsson isn’t there to negate Plakanec’s lack of speed. So whether or not Komarov brings “better defense through grinding” or not, the fact is, with Johnsson the Leafs do better anyways.

“Yeah but the playoffs are a rougher tougher……..” Whatever. I’ve long advocated the use of Komarov because the Leafs are a weak defensive team. But what if they stop trying to be everything and just lean into what they are? Which is, an offense-first powerhouse that can skate anyone into the ground.

So instead of making the team slower, and focusing on a kind of game that the rest of the team can’t be bothered with, why not just set the entire team to a focus on speed and skill, get rid of Komarov and Polak, and let Carrick and Johnsson play.

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I think it makes the Toronto Maple Leafs a harder team to play against. Sure, they won’t hurt you, but you also won’t be able to catch or keep up with them.

At this point, Andreas Johnsson has stolen Komarov’s job on the basis of merit, and deserves to be in the lineup.

Stats from Naturalstattrick.com