Salary Cap: Erik Johnson

[Foppa2118]

I mean come on. He's consistently played great pretty much all year and nobody bumped this thread. He has a few shifts over a few games that weren't good and now we bump this thread to be negative about him?

This is why the "EJ's a bottom pairing defenseman falling off a cliff" false narrative took hold so easily years ago. Same with how everyone remembered how good he was in the playoffs a few seasons ago, and then when he missed games to injury, nearly everyone forgot and went back to the old narrative. Why do we cherry pick his bad moments so often and take for granted all his good moments? Especially when the good moments far out weigh the bad ones. It's like 95/5.

And it's just flat out objectively false to say that injuries have taken away his speed and ability to win battles. I don't even know how AJ could come to that conclusion after watching him all year. That's as bad as AJ Mleczko repeatedly saying the Avs are heavy up the middle, because she doesn't really pay attention to the Avs. EJ's literally skating better than he has in years, doing a bunch of Girard like spino-rama's, and he's won a shit ton of battles in the D zone. By far the most on the team.

I swear nobody really watches EJ play defense or watches defenseman defend in general. They just watch the puck carrier. It's the same reason people thought Barrie had taken leaps and bounds defensively when he never did, and thought Girard was the Avs best shutdown defenseman a couple years ago.

Even during the last few games EJ's still made lots of really good plays. Winning battles, rushing the puck well on the breakout, clearing pucks, playing physical, making big shot blocks, saving goals on the goal line. Nobody ever mentions this though.

 

[RoyIsALegend]

He’s resorted to the laying down and playing goalie tactic below our hashmarks.

It’s painful to watch, but not as painful as his knees are when he gets into “full gear.”

 

[Foppa2118]

He’s resorted to the laying down and playing goalie tactic below our hashmarks.

It’s painful to watch, but not as painful as his knees are when he gets into “full gear.”

He's been doing that all year. At one point he was like 15-0 or 20-0 or something in successful attempts. I was keeping track because this comes up a lot. Only lately there have been a couple that didn't work. Girard and Makar do it too.

 

[RoyIsALegend]

He's been doing that all year. At one point he was like 15-0 or 20-0 or something in successful attempts. I was keeping track because this comes up a lot. Only lately there have been a couple that didn't work. Girard and Makar do it too.

Nah, he certainly wasn’t 20-0 doing it but I know you’re the biggest EJ supporter here and I love you for it.

It’s the sign of a bad defenseman who’s skills have left him.

Adam Foote did it for the last 3-4 years of his career and it was equally as painful to watch. It’s not a good strategy.

 

[Foppberg]

Nah, he certainly wasn’t 20-0 doing it but I know you’re the biggest EJ supporter here and I love you for it.

It’s the sign of a bad defenseman who’s skills have left him.

Adam Foote did it for the last 3-4 years of his career and it was equally as painful to watch. It’s not a good strategy.

To be fair EJ's been doing it for the majority of his career.

 

[Foppa2118]

Nah, he certainly wasn’t 20-0 doing it but I know you’re the biggest EJ supporter here and I love you for it.

It’s the sign of a bad defenseman who’s skills have left him.

Adam Foote did it for the last 3-4 years of his career and it was equally as painful to watch. It’s not a good strategy.

Fair enough. I'm almost positive he was something like 15-0 at one point though. Like I said I was keeping track. He didn't mistime one until recently.

Footer I agree was on his last legs the last few years and wasn't making those kind of plays well. EJ is playing fine though and has plenty of years left in him if he can avoid more bad knee injuries. Which may or may not be possible.

I disagree that play is a sign of a bad defenseman though. Girard and Makar do it too, they're not bad. I've seen Ryan Suter do it in his prime. Ray Bourque had a classic one after a turnover in the 01 playoffs too. If you time it well and you're in a tough spot, it works great. There's a reason multiple coaches have let EJ continue to do this. Because most of the time he times it well and it works.

Many defenseman don't time it well though, and when it doesn't work it just looks ridiculous and tends to stick in people's minds, but most don't remember the times it did work. That's why I was keeping track and continually pointing it out in GDT's.

 

[Avs_19]

Biggest issue I have with his play is when he freelances like he's still in his 20's but has next to no chance of getting back in position because of how bad his skating is these days. It's not just jumping up in the offensive zone and getting stuck either, there are times when he just randomly chases players in the defensive zone leaving everyone else scrambling and then he can't get back near the net in time. Sure, his teammates (forwards) need to help in those scenarios and play defense but it's just so unnecessary. You can't chase a guy all the way out to the point as he's cycling and then expect Newhook to defend the crease.

 

[The Abusement Park]

I mean come on. He's consistently played great pretty much all year and nobody bumped this thread. He has a few shifts over a few games that weren't good and now we bump this thread to be negative about him?

This is why the "EJ's a bottom pairing defenseman falling off a cliff" false narrative took hold so easily years ago. Same with how everyone remembered how good he was in the playoffs a few seasons ago, and then when he missed games to injury, nearly everyone forgot and went back to the old narrative. Why do we cherry pick his bad moments so often and take for granted all his good moments? Especially when the good moments far out weigh the bad ones. It's like 95/5.

And it's just flat out objectively false to say that injuries have taken away his speed and ability to win battles. I don't even know how AJ could come to that conclusion after watching him all year. That's as bad as AJ Mleczko repeatedly saying the Avs are heavy up the middle, because she doesn't really pay attention to the Avs. EJ's literally skating better than he has in years, doing a bunch of Girard like spino-rama's, and he's won a shit ton of battles in the D zone. By far the most on the team.

I swear nobody really watches EJ play defense or watches defenseman defend in general. They just watch the puck carrier. It's the same reason people thought Barrie had taken leaps and bounds defensively when he never did, and thought Girard was the Avs best shutdown defenseman a couple years ago.

Even during the last few games EJ's still made lots of really good plays. Winning battles, rushing the puck well on the breakout, clearing pucks, playing physical, making big shot blocks, saving goals on the goal line. Nobody ever mentions this though.

He's played fine alright in a bottom pairing role, but that's his level now. He's clearly not a guy that can be consistently relied on anymore like he once was.

 

[NOTENOUGHJTCGOALS]

Bring him back at 1M next year.

 

[dahrougem2]

If the Avalanche are in fact able to find a way to win the Stanley Cup this season, they've got to do everything possible to move on from EJ in the summer. Find a team to take him on and free up 6M in cap space.

 

[Chiarelli]

time to take old lassy out back

 

[Pokecheque]

time to take old lassy out back

Dude, the Old Yeller reference was RIGHT THERE.

 

[Foppa2118]

He's played fine alright in a bottom pairing role, but that's his level now. He's clearly not a guy that can be consistently relied on anymore like he once was.

That's fair. He's more or less a third pairing defender on this current team, though he's still used in key defensive situations (PK, last minutes of periods/games holding tight leads) and gets shuffled around to play with Girard at times.

But this is actually the first year he's been out of a top pairing role on the Avs. Last year he probably would have too, but it's hard to count the four games they were easing him back into the lineup.

Even this year, he'd be 4th in D men ice time both overall and at even strength without Bo in the lineup. And the Avs have been rolling with him playing in a top 4 role (without Bo) until recently, but we only ever talk about EJ here when things aren't going well.

It's a very unfair evaluation of him IMO, given how often he plays well, and does things that directly help the team win.