Andreas Johnsson Trade
While the rest of the hockey world predicted that the Leafs would be hamstrung by their concentrated spending on forwards, the Leafs knew they would be fine due to the flexibility provided by having Kapanen and Johnsson on team-friendly deals, and having cheaper players (Robertson, Barabanov) ready to replace them.
Johnsson was signed to a three year deal with an average annual value of $3.4 million a year last offseason when he was a restricted free agent himself.
In 125 games with the Leafs, he scored 30 goals while putting up 37 assists with a shooting percentage of 13.2 percent. He had a down year in 2019-20 compared to the 2018-19 season but he also appeared in 30 less games.
Anderson, who the Leafs got in return, has just 52 NHL games to his record with just 13 points. He’s a player that has bounced between the AHL and NHL since his debut two seasons ago.
The Leafs gave Anderson a three year, two way deal with only the third year of the deal being a guaranteed NHL contract. He will earn $750,000 each year.
Anderson is probably a longshot to make the Leafs this year, but he’s younger and cheaper than Johnsson and may one day be better, who knows? The Leafs did have to sell low on Johnsson and that brings the grade down.