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Marcus Johansson had a rough start to his season as a Bruin. After being acquired for a second- and fourth-rounder and with the Devils retaining almost half of his remaining salary, the price to acquire Johansson was not all that steep. I wonder if he remembered being the hammer that Zdeno Chara used to shatter some TD Garden glass? IT WASN’T EVEN THE GLASS AGAINST THE ICE.
The price Johansson paid in just his fourth game with his new team, however, was quite steep: a strong body check from Micheal Ferland kept him out of action for about three weeks of mid-March with a lung contusion (fancy word for bruise).
Though the six more regular-season games were pretty much a wash, Johansson more than earned his keep on the Bruins’ long postseason run. He missed a couple games against Toronto with the flu, but from there out, he was a model version of himself on Charlie Coyle’s right wing, along with time on Krejci’s wing and on the second power play unit. 11 points in 22 games might not sound like torrential outpouring of points, but his patience and vision with the puck made for lots of free space around him, as he seemed to draw an extra defender’s attention when driving play. Their styles are different, but having a second Krejci-type playmaker to distribute scoring further down the lineup really made the Bruins a deeper team and powered the run through to the Finals. He was able to stay relatively healthy throughout the playoffs, taking another heavy (and high) hit against the Blues but was able to continue playing.
Player Rating: 7
A bit of an incomplete at the end of the regular season turned into a great postseason performance. He was conceivably acquired to be Krejci’s lock on the wing, but with fewer opportunities to build chemistry during the regular season, he stayed in the bottom six once the playoffs hit. I personally would have liked to see him on the first power play unit, since the second one didn’t stand out much, but that’s a selfish request. Going points-less over the last four games against St. Louis also doesn’t help his case.
BEST OF
How about scoring in Game 7 of Round 1 to help Boston down Toronto again?
Gotta love the snipe through the defender and Bobrovsky. Bonus points for a David Backes point in the video.
Not exactly looking forward to seeing him as a Sabres forward, because that team got more dangerous with his signing of a two-year contract at $4.5 million per season, a contract Boston was not willing to offer. Good luck, MoJo, just not TOO much luck...