Confirmed with Link: Sabres trade Marcus Johansson to Minnesota for Eric Staal

[Paxon]

Unfortunately, MoJo just doesn't look like a good player right now, nvm a C. He has had time with Fiala or Kaprizov on his line almost every game, and he still looks like nothing. Even his defense, supposedly a strength, has been MIA. A guy like Foligno, for instance, has been a far better, and more impactful, player.

I would wager he will turn it around. He's a good pro, good all-around game.

 

[Chainshot]

Staal took a while to get his legs going. He looks less sluggish in the last four. It also seems like having Cozens on his line for pursuit is big. Staal does not have to churn up or back for their yo be pressure, Dylan does that job well.

 

[Buffaloed]

Sabres game day: Dylan Cozens, Eric Staal using communication to develop chemistry
Dylan Cozens knew the puck was coming to him before Eric Staal looked his way.
Staal, a 36-year-old center, passed from the right circle to the slot, where the 19-year-old rookie one-timed a shot for a power-play goal Tuesday night against the New York Rangers inside KeyBank Center.
Their success wasn’t limited to the power play, either. According to NaturalStatTrick.com, the line of Staal, Cozens and Victor Olofsson combined for 10 shot attempts at 5 on 5 and did not allow a high-danger scoring chance.

The Sabres finally have a 2nd line.

 

[explore]

Unfortunately, MoJo just doesn't look like a good player right now, nvm a C. He has had time with Fiala or Kaprizov on his line almost every game, and he still looks like nothing. Even his defense, supposedly a strength, has been MIA. A guy like Foligno, for instance, has been a far better, and more impactful, player.

I think confidence may be a part of the issue with Johansson since he's onto his second team that expected him to play a position he previously never played at the professional level.

I don't know if Minny is already doing it or will consider doing it, but sheltering him for a little while to get him going might not be the worst idea (exclusive ozone starts, pp1 time, etc), but doing that may alienate other players on the team if they're more deserving of that type of deployment

 

[Fjordy]

I think confidence may be a part of the issue with Johansson since he's onto his second team that expected him to play a position he previously never played at the professional level.

Didn't he play centre in Caps or New Jersey?

 

[explore]

Didn't he play centre in Caps or New Jersey?

No, he was a LW as far as I'm aware. I recall reading that he played centre before he came to the NHL

Looks like Johansson played centre his first two years in the NHL before being switched to LW.

 

[Fjordy]

No, he was a LW as far as I'm aware. I recall reading that he played centre before he came to the NHL

Looks like Johansson played centre his first two years in the NHL before being switched to LW.

I just vividly remember that after we signed Johansson, there were reports that he played some games in Caps and New Jersey in centre.

 

[explore]

I just vividly remember that after we signed Johansson, there were reports that he played some games in Caps and New Jersey in centre.

You're right that he played centre for the Caps early in his career (but no mention of NJ):

"Johansson, though, hasn't played much center since 2015-16 with the Washington Capitals, when he was needed there because of injury. He played the position in Sweden prior to being drafted 24th overall in 2009 and took 1,379 faceoffs over his first two seasons in the National Hockey League."

Marcus Johansson emerges as intriguing candidate to play center for Sabres | Buffalo Sabres News | buffalonews.com

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

Everyone knew this deal was awful for minny the second it was done, no one should be surprised. Zero logic behind it.

Botterill Wouldn’t have even done that trade!

 

[debaser66]

You're right that he played centre for the Caps early in his career (but no mention of NJ):

"Johansson, though, hasn't played much center since 2015-16 with the Washington Capitals, when he was needed there because of injury. He played the position in Sweden prior to being drafted 24th overall in 2009 and took 1,379 faceoffs over his first two seasons in the National Hockey League."

Marcus Johansson emerges as intriguing candidate to play center for Sabres | Buffalo Sabres News | buffalonews.com

can not even access this outside the US

 

[UnleashRasmus]

Staal looks like the better fit for this team obviously. His connection with Olofsson and Cozens on the second line is really making a difference. I wish though they'd give Skinner some more minutes in the top six.

 

[Bendium]

I feel bad for Johansson if they are trying to use him as a center. It was clear when he was here that he was a very good top 6 LW, but only should be used as a center to cover an injury. Use the player where he is most effective, then it is managements job to get players to fill in the other slots with players most effective in the position of need.

 

[57special]

Well, Johansson is out with an injury, but even when he has played, he hasn't looked like much. The Center experiment was abandoned really early.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Well, Johansson is out with an injury, but even when he has played, he hasn't looked like much. The Center experiment was abandoned really early.

Buffalo winning trades with Minnesota, while Minnesota still being a much better team...is as old as day!

 

[La Cosa Nostra]

Even with a bad stretch Staal is still at a .5 ppg getting exactly 15 minutes a game which is the lowest EVER for him. And he is winning face-offs at over a 55% rate which is fantastic. All while getting only 43% ozs which...you guessed it is a career low. So Ralph is literally deploying Staal over 10% his career dzs. Ralph has not tried to help Staal at all and Staal has still been an overall positive addition to this team. Still a steal of a trade.

 

[Unsourced]

It does seem face-offs generally has improved greatly this year between Eakin, Staal and Sheahan.

 

[5 Minute Major]

How many times has Staal ridiculously coughed the puck up leading to the Sabres being scored on.

Yeah, we really made out like bandits in that trade.

 

[explore]

How many times has Staal ridiculously coughed the puck up leading to the Sabres being scored on.

Yeah, we really made out like bandits in that trade.

Go ahead and find a team willing to trade a 2C not signed to a Jeff Skinner-esque contract for what we traded to acquire Staal.

You won't

Staal has never been a defensive stalwart in his career. The issues you're pointing are issues Staal has been dealing with his entire career.

In spite of that, Staal has been worth more than what he was traded for

The lapses you're talking about wouldn't be nearly as big of an issue if we had an NHL-capable goalie in place of Hutton

 

[5 Minute Major]

Go ahead and find a team willing to trade a 2C not signed to a Jeff Skinner-esque contract for what we traded to acquire Staal.

You won't

Staal has never been a defensive stalwart in his career. The issues you're pointing are issues Staal has been dealing with his entire career.

In spite of that, Staal has been worth more than what he was traded for

The lapses you're talking about wouldn't be nearly as big of an issue if we had an NHL-capable goalie in place of Hutton

You can put up all the conditions you want, just because the Sabres "won" the trade doesn't mean squat in the long run. The Sabres, once again, will be on the outside looking in and a mediocre 2nd line center, who coughs the puck up often, will be a year older when the chapter is closed.

 

[explore]

You can put up all the conditions you want, just because the Sabres "won" the trade doesn't mean squat in the long run. The Sabres, once again, will be on the outside looking in and a mediocre 2nd line center, who coughs the puck up often, will be a year older when the chapter is closed.

You aren't making a rational argument

If you can't propose a better alternative to Staal while attempting to claim that he's the root cause of the team's issues, then what you're claiming isn't based in reality

EDIT:

I think you've forgotten all the times last season when Marcus Johansson turned the puck over on the powerplay or during OT while in the offensive zone, leading to the opposing team scoring against us.

On top of that Marcus Johansson was far less offensively skilled than Eric Staal.

Eric Staal is an improvement in every sense of the word over Marcus Johansson

He may not be a franchise changer, but if he were capable of that, he would've cost a lot more than Marcus Johansson

 

[5 Minute Major]

You aren't making a rational argument

If you can't propose a better alternative to Staal while attempting to claim that he's the root cause of the team's issues, then what you're claiming isn't based in reality

EDIT:

I think you've forgotten all the times last season when Marcus Johansson turned the puck over on the powerplay or during OT while in the offensive zone, leading to the opposing team scoring against us.

On top of that Marcus Johansson was far less offensively skilled than Eric Staal.

Eric Staal is an improvement in every sense of the word over Marcus Johansson

He may not be a franchise changer, but if he were capable of that, he would've cost a lot more than Marcus Johansson

Please point out where I said Staal
was the root of the teams issues.

LMAO

 

[explore]

Please point out where I said Staal
was the root of the teams issues.

LMAO

Here you go:

You can put up all the conditions you want, just because the Sabres "won" the trade doesn't mean squat in the long run. The Sabres, once again, will be on the outside looking in and a mediocre 2nd line center, who coughs the puck up often, will be a year older when the chapter is closed.

 

[Kyndig]

It does seem face-offs generally has improved greatly this year between Eakin, Staal and Sheahan.

Seems like it was at the cost of having the absolute worst line in hockey though with Rieder/Eakins/Okposo.

 

[Buffaloed]

Who would have thought that MoJo pre-injury was a better player than Staal?
MoJo 22GP 4G, 5A , -4
Staal 36GP 4G, 7A , -25