The Detroit Red Wings' lineup demanded fresh faces, especially on the blue line.
Plenty of veteran defensemen have come to Hockeytown for a paycheck, leaving their hearts and convictions at the door. Fans aren't stupid. We know we a player wants to be in Detroit, and we know when he's ready for dad life.
Season after season, Wings fans begged general Steve Yzerman to bring up young defensemen. Players who actually put in the effort and wanted to be part of the Detroit Red Wings' chase for the playoffs.
These young players have a hunger that is needed in any lineup. For the Red Wings, they need spice things up and young players bring just that.
It is difficult to integrate any young player, but defenders have one of, if not the, toughest transitions to the National Hockey League (NHL). A forward who hiccups usually has a defender (or two), plus a goaltender to erase any mistakes. A mistake from a defenseman either as often as not, ends up in the back of their team's net. Thus, teams are hesitant to bring up young defenders, including the subject of this article.
Albert Johansson graded out well, all things considered
Albert Johansson (leader of the sassy Swedes) burst into the scene guns blazing. At least, that’s what I hoped for when he made his National Hockey League (NHL) debut. Instead, misguided coaching strategies saw Johansson sporadically enter the Detroit Red Wings lineup. It seemed like Johansson wasn’t sure when his next game would be. At times, he would go 11 days between games.
Imagine trying to get up to speed with the best hockey league in the world, but never getting any time to adjust. Just in, out, and watch from the pressbox. Everyone learns so much better from watching and not doing things, or the other defenders played so well, it was understandable that Johansson sat so long. Not.
When Todd McLellan took over, Johansson was one of the players who took off (for the better). It’s funny what a little bit of faith does for people.
For my expectations of Johansson after the coaching change, which is all that I will focus on, I expected Johansson to have a typical rookie campaign. I didn’t expect him to have the biggest role or ice time, his performance to have peaks and dips, but I’d be happy to just see him in a consistent role to see what he could do at the NHL level. Johansson was an effective player at the American Hockey League (AHL) and a champion in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), so I wanted to see how he played in the NHL. Mostly, though, I expected him to have a sheltered role most of the season with about 15 minutes of ice time per game.
Honestly, Johansson exceeded my expectations. Playing on a second defense pairing with his typical Grand Rapids Griffins defensive partner in Simon Edvinsson, the duo played pretty well all things considered. If the Red Wings had many other options, we likely wouldn’t have seen the duo play together (or for nearly as long) in the NHL. With Jeff Petry out for a good chunk of the season, there weren’t many alternatives. I think Johansson made the best out of his situation and learned a lot.
There are plenty of areas that Johansson can and should improve on, including his consistency, body mass, and reading plays. These opportunities are similar to most young players in the NHL.
Grade: B
All things considered, Johansson provided adequate minutes with the role he was given. Johansson needs to build upon this season so that he’s ready to help the Detroit Red Wings take the next step in their rebuild (regardless if Johansson is playing on the second or third pair).