Keeping with the theme of grade reports for Minnesota Wild players acquired at the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline, the next player up would be Marcus Johansson. His trade had a bit of a question mark surrounding it, some fans were ecstatic while others were highly suspicious of what he would amount to. In the little amount of time he played before the season ended, he did quite well.
He even managed to make it on the scoresheet in the postseason, just like his fellow trade acquisitions, he was one of the few who did. Johansson is not the hitting type but he wasn’t afraid to get involved in other ways defensively and his contributions were noticed. We’ll start with his regular season performance and then discuss his postseason as well.
Johansson’s Surprising Regular Season
Johansson joined the Wild a few days before the deadline and he played right away. He played 20 games and scored six goals plus 12 assists for 18 points. He didn’t waste any time by taking 42 shots on goal in those games and he avoided the penalty box. While he was busy proving he could score goals he also showed he wasn’t much for the physical side of things at least at first.
He only had one hit during his regular season stint with the Wild but he showed what his defensive game looked like with seven blocked shots. He came up even when it came to turnovers and takeaways with seven a piece. Keeping with the defensive side of things but this time with special teams, he spent some time on the penalty kill and produced one goal while shorthanded.
Switching back to offense, Johansson did even better with his time on the power play. He recorded a goal plus four assists for five points while on the man advantage. His performance clearly impressed the coaching staff and it showed when the Wild chose to re-sign him for two more years this spring. Hopefully, he can show even more scoring ability this next season and prove he was worth his extension.
Johansson’s Postseason Attempts
Johansson played in all six games of the postseason and while his offensive efforts weren’t nearly the same level as the regular season, he still contributed. He scored goals in back-to-back games, the first in Game 2 and the second in Game 3 for two points total. Again, he forced himself to take as many shots as he could with 14 in the postseason that led to his two goals.
He ramped up his hitting game when the playoffs started as he went from one single hit during the regular season to 11 hits in six games. He came up even again in the takeaways and giveaways department with three a piece but he dropped in the blocks category with just three blocked shots. While he upped his physical game, his overall defensive game dropped when they needed it the most.
Johansson continued his special teams adventures as well but he wasn’t successful on the penalty kill yet he was while on the power play. One of the two goals he scored during the postseason was registered on the man advantage. The Wild needed more from him but at least he was able to figure out what worked even if it was short-lived.
Johansson’s Grade
His regular season although short was pretty easy to grade given the offensive results he had. He found a way to score goals and quickly, he also showed his high speed which surprised many. As far as a grade goes, he earned an A-, his offense was extremely impressive for the short amount of time he had as well as factoring in his adjustment to a new team. He also had a little room to improve his defensive game, while it was decent, it could always be better.
Related: Minnesota Wild Team Awards 2022-23
Switching to his postseason grade, his offense nearly dropped off the map and his defense followed. However, he was slightly successful and that saved some of his grade and made it possible for him to earn a B. He had a lot of room to do better defensively and also to show his offense during the regular season wasn’t a one-time thing.
Overall that made his grade a B+ with a lot of room to grow his game offensively and defensively. As stated before he’ll have time to do that over the next two seasons with his new contract and hopefully he’ll be able to be another offensive spark the Wild need alongside Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy.