Former Bruins Marcus Johansson - Sabres sign forward Marcus Johansson to two-year contract

[Alan Ryan]

Apologies if this has been addressed in one of the threads, but I haven't seen it.

ProHockey Rumors analyzed a piece by Fluto Shinzawa in The Athletic where GM Sweeney was asked which player could replace Johansson. His answer—Heinen. Quoting the piece:


The problem for Boston is that the team is loaded with a number of right-shot options in Zachary Senyshyn, Karson Kuhlman or Brett Ritchie. However, general manager Don Sweeney suggested it might be best to take the third-line right wing, Danton Heinen, and move him to the left side as he possesses more versatility than the others, which could allow one of the others to move in on the right side. “I think Heinen, depending on what side you play him on,” said Sweeney when asked who could replace Johansson. “Whether it’s Karson or Senyshyn or Brett Ritchie, guys that are right shots, we could play lefty-righty and move Danton over. I think he fits into the same mold of player creative-wise.”

Atlantic Notes: Sabres 2020 Offseason, Heinen, Chiarot

If they move Heinen to the left wing to replace Johansson the line-up could look something like this:

Marchand – Bergeron – Pastrnak
DeBrusk – Krejci – Ritchie/Bjork
Heinen – Coyle – Kuhlman/Senyshyn
Nordstrom – Kuraly – Wagner

 

[TCB]

Apologies if this has been addressed in one of the threads, but I haven't seen it.

ProHockey Rumors analyzed a piece by Fluto Shinzawa in The Athletic where GM Sweeney was asked which player could replace Johansson. His answer—Heinen. Quoting the piece:


The problem for Boston is that the team is loaded with a number of right-shot options in Zachary Senyshyn, Karson Kuhlman or Brett Ritchie. However, general manager Don Sweeney suggested it might be best to take the third-line right wing, Danton Heinen, and move him to the left side as he possesses more versatility than the others, which could allow one of the others to move in on the right side. “I think Heinen, depending on what side you play him on,” said Sweeney when asked who could replace Johansson. “Whether it’s Karson or Senyshyn or Brett Ritchie, guys that are right shots, we could play lefty-righty and move Danton over. I think he fits into the same mold of player creative-wise.”

Atlantic Notes: Sabres 2020 Offseason, Heinen, Chiarot

If they move Heinen to the left wing to replace Johansson the line-up could look something like this:

Marchand – Bergeron – Pastrnak
DeBrusk – Krejci – Ritchie/Bjork
Heinen – Coyle – Kuhlman/Senyshyn
Nordstrom – Kuraly – Wagner

I really like the odds of Studnicka making the team out of camp and playing on Krejci's wing. He brings speed and skill to the second line. Something needs to give though, perhaps too many NHLers and not enough slots if Studnicka and Senyshyn makes the team out of camp, that will leave a few players on the outside looking in.

Sweeney likes competition, well he has it and Steen and Lauko are two players who have that mentality, that Im better than you, with never quit motors and are going to do whatever it takes too make this team out of camp. It'll be interesting to say the least.

 

[DominicT]

I don't understand why the Mods are punishing us like this.

Look at the Page one and have to see twice that Mojo has signed with the Sabres

 

[pemulis]

I'm definitely in the minority here. But just for arguments sake, I'd like to share my opinion. Based on his time here, JoJo had two tales, the poor showing in the regular season (even before he was concussed) and the great first three rounds in the stanley cup playoffs. If he were resigned, I'd be deeply concerned that we would see the non-effective version for most of the season. Which version was the blip? I don't know the answer to this question, but quite honestly, 4.5mil is too expensive to experiment. With 30 points in 58 games (including 3 pts in 10 games for Boston), no thank you. Plus he was irrelevant in the St Louis series. Way too many question marks, even if it is for short term and a middle amount of money.

 

[LouJersey]

Early returns are not good on letting him go. Bruins are still an exceptional team without him, don't get me wrong, but the middle six has all of 1 goal between Coyle, Heinen, Krejci and DeBrusk. Mojo was just a perfect fit here and looking back, maybe Sweeney should have made it happen?

 

[neelynugs]

Early returns are not good on letting him go. Bruins are still an exceptional team without him, don't get me wrong, but the middle six has all of 1 goal between Coyle, Heinen, Krejci and DeBrusk. Mojo was just a perfect fit here and looking back, maybe Sweeney should have made it happen?

would've been nice to have jojo back, he was a stud in the playoffs. and now he's playing center
for the sabres, which i didn't think he could do effectively. for 2 years at that money, he'd look
very nice on this roster. good for him, good for them. curious to see what happens around the
10 game mark with this roster. couple of very tough games ahead.

 

[Blowfish]

Grrrr Backes

 

[RussellmaniaKW]

5 points (3 goals) in 6 games for Jojo

f***ing hate that they let him walk

 

[Estlin]

I think that, when Bjork is back in Boston, people will forgot about Johansson moving on.

 

[Aussie Bruin]

5 points (3 goals) in 6 games for Jojo

****ing hate that they let him walk

Me too, but I just don't see how they could have afforded to keep him. Let’s be optimistic and say that Johansson would have stayed in Boston for slightly less than what he got in Buffalo, so around $4.25 million. We have around $1 mil spare in our cap at present, but back in the trade period that wasn’t apparent with McAvoy and Carlo still to be re-signed. Granted, don’t sign Ritchie and you do save a mil there. But they still would have needed to find at least $3 mil on top of the $1 mil or so free at the time, and that could only have come from moving others on, and the only contenders for that would have been Krug, Heinen, Backes, Moore and Miller.

Krug ain’t going anywhere and it would in any case be a net loss to trade Torey and keep JoJo, Heinen doesn’t get you enough value and anyway weakens the very line Marcus would strengthen, Backes is immovable due to the amount he is paid, and Moore and Miller both had long-term injuries likewise ensuring they weren’t going anywhere at the time. There’s probably a couple of other options and factors you could consider, but even so I just don’t see how it was possible to retain him.

Keeping JoJo would also have made it even more difficult to afford and obtain the 2nd line scoring winger that we need above all else. Johansson for all his undoubted ability is not that guy. So better to play the cheaper but capable enough Kuhlman or Bjork on the 3rd line and save the extra dough to put into the mix of what it will take to land the 2RW we need.

 

[CDJ]

5 points (3 goals) in 6 games for Jojo

****ing hate that they let him walk

can’t get a new one at the deadline

I imagine durability relative to what they would have to pay him is what prevented him from coming back here

 

[BigGoalBrad]

If we had been able to dump Backes we could have signed Mojo and Ferland. Just LTIR Miller/Moore.

Shame. Time to dump 42 in Providence those depth wingers aren’t a strength right now and we gotta give everyone in the organization a shot before we start making trades to fill the void.

 

[Tbaybruin]

So in the future we will probably have to trade picks/prospects for a forward. If we traded Backes for picks and prospects and sign Johansson for nothing we are at about the same spot but have a better look at our team for the year and more cap space.

 

[RussellmaniaKW]

can’t get a new one at the deadline

I imagine durability relative to what they would have to pay him is what prevented him from coming back here

yeah let's keep giving up 2nd round picks at the deadline for rentals

when you get a rental who turns out to be a great fit & has reasonable contract demands you should keep them.

 

[Alicat]

5 points (3 goals) in 6 games for Jojo

****ing hate that they let him walk

The Bruins didn't let him walk. They offered him a contract and he chose to go elsewhere simple as that.

 

[maxl7]

The Bruins didn't let him walk. They offered him a contract and he chose to go elsewhere simple as that.

Source?

The last I saw, Sweeney specifically said that they did *not* offer MoJo a contract.

 

[Estlin]

Source?

The last I saw, Sweeney specifically said that they did *not* offer MoJo a contract.

Yeah, I'm wondering about this too.

 

[CDJ]

yeah let's keep giving up 2nd round picks at the deadline for rentals

when you get a rental who turns out to be a great fit & has reasonable contract demands you should keep them.

I don’t know if paying a guy 4.5 mill for a couple years with the current cap situation and his injury history is “reasonable”

The idea is that you’ll find somebody internally to fill the spot for 1/4 of the price. If you don’t then you go to the deadline knowing what you need. I personally have no problems w them giving up 2nds at the deadline if they are cup contenders. They can do it every year and I wouldn’t mind

 

[Sheppy]

Source?

The last I saw, Sweeney specifically said that they did *not* offer MoJo a contract.

This is also what i read.

 

[Alicat]

Source?

The last I saw, Sweeney specifically said that they did *not* offer MoJo a contract.

I thought I saw somewhere where they did. I could obviously be wrong.

My apologies

 

[maxl7]

I thought I saw somewhere where they did. I could obviously be wrong.

My apologies

No apologies necessary, I just wanted to make sure I didn't miss something because if they did tender him an offer that would have meant a vastly different plan for the offseason than what we got.

 

[Donnie Shulzhoffer]

I thought I saw somewhere where they did. I could obviously be wrong.

My apologies

It was because of cap constraints and the poster you were original replying to was kind of painting the picture that Sweeney was "Meh..we don't need him"

 

[BruinsFanSince94]

Can we close this one up or move it to the ex-Bruins thread?

 

[Mr. Make-Believe]

It was because of cap constraints and the poster you were replying to was kind of painting the picture that Sweeney was "Meh..we don't need him"

I’m just going to go ahead and take exception to this.

There’s a whole list of things wrong with this post.

 

[Donnie Shulzhoffer]

I’m just going to go ahead and take exception to this.

There’s a whole list of things wrong with this post.

Not the poster asking for a source. The original one she replied too. Unless there is something else I am missing.