Darren Dreger of TSN.ca has reported that Jack Johnson Sr. has contacted the St. Petersburg franchise in the KHL about a possible 1 year deal for the upcoming season. For King fans that watched their season take a nose-dive in March and flop after exceeding expectations early in the year, this is not the way they want the offseason to start. Before we jump off that bridge, there are a couple of things to note with the story.
First, Jack Johnson Sr. is NOT the defenseman that plays for the Los Angeles Kings—it’s his Dad. Once again, the senior Johnson is sticking his nose into his son’s affairs. If you remember, he was instrumental in the Carolina fiasco that led his son to the Kings in the first place. When the Hurricanes needed a defenseman at the NHL level, their GM Jim Rutherford made a hard push to sign Johnson to an entry level deal that would bring the former 3rd overall pick to Raleigh. Instead, the Johnson camp reiterated that Jack was not interested in leaving the University of Michigan early for the NHL. As history tells us, it looks like the Johnson family was not interested in leaving school early for CAROLINA—not necessarily the NHL. Recently, Father Jack released a statement to “set the record clear once and for all.” If nothing else, it’s interesting.
Johnson never saw the ice for the Carolina Hurricanes
Secondly, Johnson (the player, not the father) is a restricted free-agent this offseason. In the absence of offer-sheets by other NHL teams, the player has limited options in the negotiation process. Coming into the season, Johnson was slated to be the Kings #1 defenseman on the team—only to go down with a shoulder injury in the 2nd game of the season. When he returned to the line-up, the Kings showed the most promise of their season going 7-1 in late Febrary (including a 4-1 stretch on an East Coast road trip). That’s the good.
The bad would show that Johnson’s play severely trailed off after the initial burst back in the lineup. The plus/minus isn’t a great stat to measure the effectiveness of an individual, but we can get a little more use out of the stat when we compare it to teammates. A player with a +10 is much more impressive on the Islanders than the Red Wings. A guy that is -5 can look bad—but when most guys on his team are a -10 or worse, then suddenly -5 doesn’t look as bad. With this in mind, take a look at Johnson’s stats. His team worst -18 plus/minus isn’t the mark of a player that has ARRIVED.
Just like when Johnson was traded to Los Angeles almost 3 years ago, his best quality is still his potential. He’s an offensively gifted defenseman that has the tools to join the rush, blast shots from the point, as well as clear out the front of the net. Throw in the fact that he’s willing to drop the gloves to stand up for his teammates, and he’s the kind of defenseman that teams all over the league would love to have on their team.
That leads us to this coming offseason and the impending contract negotiations that Johnson and his agent (presumably agent, but maybe his father) will broker with Dean Lombardi and the Kings brass. Will Jack Johnson’s next contract reflect the potential that has garnered him the nickname JMFJ, or will it be something closer to a contract for a young defenseman that is still learning to play at the NHL level? Both descriptions are true for Johnson—so King fans will be curious to see how the negotiations work out this summer. It sounds like the Johnson camp may have been using the KHL as artificial leverage in their impending free-agent talks starting on July 1. I don’t think that’s going how they planned though:
“Indeed we were interested in this defenseman. But when we sensed that Johnson is trying to use our negotiations as leverage for a better NHL contract, while in actuality not ever intending to move to Russia, we terminated the negotiations” – St. Petersburg GM Andrei Tochitsky
Another thing to keep in mind is the recent history that GM Dean Lombardi has with players that fight for larger contracts. Two seasons ago, there were messy negotiations between the Kings and Michael Cammallari that led to his departure in a draft-day trade with the Calgary Flames. Last season, Patrick O’Sullivan held out as a restricted free-agent until the beginning of training camp. Some Kings fans were on the player’s side, some were on the management’s side—but either way most knew that O’Sullivan’s days in Southern California were numbered. At the trading deadline, those suspicions came to fruition as he was sent to Edmonton (with a 2-round pick) in a three-way trade.
Who will get to see if Johnson fulfills all of his potential?
For those that are keeping score at home—that’s 2 players that have had contract disputes and 2 players that have been traded. Will Jack Johnson be the next? In the interest of full disclosure, I’m the kind of guy that had Johnson sign a jersey with the inscription “Kill Jack Kill.” He’s the kind of defenseman that I’d love to have on my team for the next decade. The Kings have gone through the growing pains of watching a young defenseman develop—so why would they throw away the fruits of their patience? If you wanted to read into Lombardi’s quotes (and isn’t that why we’re here), here’s what the Kings GM had to say about the news regarding St. Petersburg:
“It’s news to me. It doesn’t affect us either way.” –Inside The Kings
It’s similar to the situation that brought Johnson to the Kings in the first place. The Kings had put in work to help Tim Gleason develop into an NHL-caliber defenseman. As he was coming up through the ranks, he was supposed to be an offensive-minded defenseman. The Kings watched his progress and started to realize that he might be better suited as a shutdown guy in the NHL. The Hurricanes are now enjoying the fruits of the Kings labor.
Again Johnson looks like he’s headed for a contract dispute—and again it looks like his father will be in the center of the controversy. I completely understand the sentiment among some of the fanbase that says, “If you don’t want to be here then get the hell out.” But if the Kings are contemplating a trade, what do they think they’ll get for him? Trading a young defenseman that has underwhelmed under enormous expectations and is coming off an injury plagued year is not the ideal moment to trade a player. “Buy low, sell high” is the #1 rule in business—so is this really the right time to trade an asset? Then again, if Johnson’s camp continues to press the issue—it might not be the Kings decision to make.
Somewhere there’s a Carolina Hurricanes fan smiling that’s saying, “Been there, done that.”
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