Confirmed Signing with Link: [NYI] Ross Johnston re-signs for four years, $1M AAV one-way

[Marshall]

I don't think the contract is particularly detrimental to the Islanders organization as a whole, but taken on its own it does seem a bit odd.

 

[Eternal Leaf]

Lou just watched his high flying Leafs team get their asses handed to them in the playoffs because they had diddly squat for toughness. Guess he's not planning to make that mistake again.

True, this time Lou's making sure his team doesn't qualify at all.

 

[DarkHorse2]

The Islanders scored buckets last season but had no depth on the bottom six and were awful defensively (not just in terms of the defensemen.) The Isles have stocked up on bottom six players, will likely swap in Ho-Sang on the top six to a manageable deficit on offense, improved their coaching to an incredible degree and may have improved their goaltending. Outside of losing Tavares (and de Haan to a lesser degree), things have gone pretty well and the team still has capital in terms of cap and assets to spend.

 

[Rebels57]

This is hilarious.

 

[absolute garbage]

Can be buried at next to no cap hit.

1 way/2way shouldn’t matter to fans, unless your team is the Sens, pinching every penny

1-way/2-way absolutely does matter, and it matters a ton. With 2-way, you're talking about a ~5x pay increase when he's in the NHL compared to AHL. 1-way and he's guaranteed to get the money no matter what.

Imagine the difference in your mentality and in your work rate at your job if you were working for a possible 5x pay increase, vs making that money on default and having no possibility to get a raise. What a ridiculous suggestion that that sort of incentive doesn't matter. These kind of fringe players are pure effort and hustle who are really just trying to make a living their whole career with mostly minor league salaries, they are much closer to the average person than your average NHLers' millions, so this financial incentive is an extremely relevant thing regarding these types of players' effectiveness on the ice.

 

[Tres Peleches]

I said it on the Islanders board, i’ll Say it here.

This is literally a no risk move for anyone associated with the Islanders except for the owners. He works out? Great! Cheap, young, serviceable 4th liner with a bit of upside. He doesn’t? Oh well, send him back to BPT and he either gets claimed or he goes to the minors and it doesn’t impact the Islanders cap at all.

The only people who should hate this deal is the Islanders owners since they have to pay him a million bucks even if he gets sent down to the minors

 

[Gsus]

At first I thought he's a coach or something. Rarely we see four year deals for players that really doesn't even exist on most people's minds.

Ross Johnston is my personal black hole from the NHL.

 

[absolute garbage]

I said it on the Islanders board, i’ll Say it here.

This is literally a no risk move for anyone associated with the Islanders except for the owners. He works out? Great! Cheap, young, serviceable 4th liner with a bit of upside. He doesn’t? Oh well, send him back to BPT and he either gets claimed or he goes to the minors and it doesn’t impact the Islanders cap at all.

The only people who should hate this deal is the Islanders owners since they have to pay him a million bucks even if he gets sent down to the minors

Like I said above, in addition to just wasting money for no reason, you are also risking losing a fan favorite type of player. For no reason. It's just dumb. He could've never asked for 4 years himself. He could've never asked for more than 1M/yr at any point in the future in his career. There was literally no reason to hand this guy this much financial security, and as a result possibly lose a popular 4th line hungry clown because of it. It's just fundamentally stupid to initiate that sort of thing on this type of player.

 

[LMFAO]

Its a long deal considering that fighting will probably be baned before his contract is done.

 

[zharkenby]

its probably a two-way deal... calm down people

...

 

[Tres Peleches]

Like I said above, in addition to just wasting money for no reason, you are also risking losing a fan favorite type of player. For no reason. It's just dumb. He could've never asked for 4 years himself. He could've never asked for more than 1M/yr at any point in the future in his career. There was literally no reason to hand this guy this much financial security, and as a result possibly lose a popular 4th line hungry clown because of it. It's just fundamentally stupid to initiate that sort of thing on this type of player.

1. It’s not my money, the owners can spend it however they choose.

2. Who is this popular 4th line “hungry clown” (I’m assuming an autocorrect error, but I couldn’t resist lol) we could be losing? Martin? Cizikas? Clutterbuck? I’d argue the only person I wouldn’t take Johnson over is Cizikas, and even his contract is more than I’d really want to pay him

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

Who the **** is that guy

 

[King Weber]

1. Sign all the bottom 6 guys you can afford
2. Keep them until trade deadline when contenders come in and might be willing to overpay to get depth or upgrades for picks and/or prospects
3. ????
4. Profit

 

[Flukeshot]

Lou is getting too old and tired to negotiate contracts so he is just saying F it, I'm signing guys for as long as I plan on being GM.

 

[Isles Junkie]

It certainly didn't take Lou very long for me to want the owners to fire him. I don't think there is a single move he's made this offseason that I've approved of. and I give him zero credit for the draft.

 

[SmoggyTwinkles]

Not sure why people aren't acknowledging the obvious tank set-up Lou is putting together here?

He's probably overpaying fourth liners so they can hit the cap floor over the next few years based on whatever they're projecting.

Given the term on these guys, seems like they're gonna go for a three year tank job, just enough time to go into their new arena with elite prospects.

I'd be happy if I was an isles fan.

 

[DarkHorse2]

1. Sign all the bottom 6 guys you can afford
2. Keep them until trade deadline when contenders come in and might be willing to overpay to get depth or upgrades for picks and/or prospects
3. ????
4. Profit

Not a bad point. 12 depth forwards were dealt for either a pick or prospect at the deadline this year.

 

[Canada4Gold]

It's a buryable so it's not like it will hurt them cap wise if it doesn't work, but it's just weird giving a player like him 4 years of term. Seems unnecessary. Most guys like him go year to year at those cap hits. Is he really going to get so much better than you'll be happy you don't have to pay him 1.5 million in 2 years time instead?

And I have heard of him before. He was the guy that meant the Isles wouldn't want Martin back again. Good times!

 

[Paulinvancouver]

I had a sales director working for me that went by Ross Johnston.

He sucked too.

 

[edguy]

Ross is litteraly the nicest guy I've ever met. Kid is a work horse on and off the ice. He is the kind of guy you want in the locker room.

Think a young Matt Martin type. He will step up and defend/protect his team mates and wont be pushed around.

From an Isles POV it doesnt make sense given all their bottom 6ers. But I wouldn't be shocked if I heard other teams were interested in him at that contract.
Alot of people undervalue the importance of a locker room presence of a guy like Rosco around here.

 

[LordNeverLose]

Not sure why people aren't acknowledging the obvious tank set-up Lou is putting together here?

He's probably overpaying fourth liners so they can hit the cap floor over the next few years based on whatever they're projecting.

Given the term on these guys, seems like they're gonna go for a three year tank job, just enough time to go into their new arena with elite prospects.

I'd be happy if I was an isles fan.

I wouldn't mind that, but I'd prefer they don't tank it too hard in the upcoming years. The pieces of a playoff team are their, they just need to add one or two guys.

 

[LordNeverLose]

It's a buryable so it's not like it will hurt them cap wise if it doesn't work, but it's just weird giving a player like him 4 years of term. Seems unnecessary. Most guys like him go year to year at those cap hits. Is he really going to get so much better than you'll be happy you don't have to pay him 1.5 million in 2 years time instead?

And I have heard of him before. He was the guy that meant the Isles wouldn't want Martin back again. Good times!

It's weird but there's no downside. What is the risk here?

 

[Dr Quincy]

1-way/2-way absolutely does matter, and it matters a ton. With 2-way, you're talking about a ~5x pay increase when he's in the NHL compared to AHL. 1-way and he's guaranteed to get the money no matter what.

Imagine the difference in your mentality and in your work rate at your job if you were working for a possible 5x pay increase, vs making that money on default and having no possibility to get a raise. What a ridiculous suggestion that that sort of incentive doesn't matter. These kind of fringe players are pure effort and hustle who are really just trying to make a living their whole career with mostly minor league salaries, they are much closer to the average person than your average NHLers' millions, so this financial incentive is an extremely relevant thing regarding these types of players' effectiveness on the ice.

This is absolutely ridiculous.

Yeah Ross Johnston is going to stop trying and risk being sent to the AHL because what does he care, I mean he'll make the same amount.

As if:
1) A player doesn't have pride
2) A player doesn't care if he's riding a bus from Bridgeport to Utica and playing in front of 800 people on Mick Vukota Bobble Head night.

Players want to play in the NHL. If Johnston isn't good enough to do that, then he isn't good enough to do that, but it won't be because he thinks "Ah forget trying to hustle and getting injured. I'll just coast and be sent to the minors. No biggie".

 

[zharkenby]

Never even heard of this guy. What a bad and odd signing

“Never heard of this guy”

“Bad signing”

Makes sense, clearly you would know.............

 

[naruto]

I wouldn't mind that, but I'd prefer they don't tank it too hard in the upcoming years. The pieces of a playoff team are their, they just need to add one or two guys.

Isles need more than just one or two guys. Maybe for playoffs but to win the cup?

Even if this is a tank move, 4 years makes no sense.

Lou should retire honestly. His last few years are going to be embarrassing.