Article: Why Is Marcus Johansson So Frustrating To Watch?

[Tony Abbott]

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[FredJohnson]

Why Is Marcus Johansson So Frustrating To Watch?

Dunno. His free skate routine every game is a thing of beauty.

[Up North Guy]

Gotta believe there are benchings coming. It is so passed the time for putting the best or at least guys with the most effort on the ice. I know NoJo has some kind of clause but if it isn't a no movement clause maybe NoJo goes on waivers (perhaps taking Freddie along). Time is past to see the kids get a chance to demonstrate what they have.

[MrCheatachu]

Quote

 

Mar. 12, 2024 Marcus Johansson is cleared to play.

Mar. 3, 2024 Marcus Johansson has an injury to his lower body. The expected duration is unknown.

Oct. 14, 2023 Marcus Johansson is cleared to play.

Oct. 12, 2023 Marcus Johansson has an undisclosed injury. The expected duration is unknown.

 

Everyone's favorite center, V1Ctor Rask, was never the same after he sliced his hand open in Raleigh.  I think FreddyG is still fighting through something after getting smoked by the Muffin Man this season.  I'm not convinced these guys who are 'frustrating' for us to watch aren't masking an underlying injury.  I think some of these guys are trying to rehab through injuries that arent severe enough to keep them on LTIR, but also hampering that razor-thin margin of talent/skill needed competing at the highest level in the NHL.

Looking at the start of the season, I think both Kaprizov and Boldy were fighting through something that made them less impactful than we were expecting to see.

Frustrating as a fan that we don't get perfect clarity to these guys health, but I also don't think, as a fan, I'm entitled to know that Freddy's shoulder bothers him when the barometer drops, or Mojo's ribs give sharp pain when he tries to not drop his stick.

[Citizen Strife]

At this point, either putting Foligno or Khusnutdinov with Rossi and Zuccarello probably fares better than anything they'd get with Johansson.  Foligno and Rossi played pretty well both times they were put together this season, and Khusnutdinov would offer either a defensive edge or potential scoring benefit.  I don't think Rossi or Khusnutdinov let their size define them that badly.  It's worth a chance if Johansson and Gaudreau are what they are: warm bodies for lower line duty.

[TheGoosesAreLooses]

At least they have moved Gaudreau down the lineup as he has failed to produce. I have trouble understanding why they haven't sent a message to Mojo. He is the only one in the top six in the negative in plus minus at a brutal -12. He rarely contributes to offence or is inconsistent at the best of times. Watching Hartman drop to the 4th line well Mojo got a free ride was mystifying. It is understandable why he would stick in the top 6 now that Ek is injured but he had no business being there well Ek is healthy. I would far rather a Hartman-Rossi-Zucc line or even a Foligno-Rossi-Zucc line than to see Mojo in the top six. The XGF rate above really shows how far he drags down those around him.

[MNCountryLife]

Nojo rarely steals the puck away from the opposing team.  He does a poor job of covering his point man in the D zone.  Nojo is supposed to be a great puck handler but it sure seems like he loses possession the majority of the time.  I've watched us dominate in the O-zone only to switch to his line and he gives up control and zone on the very next shift.  Every one of his line mates has to do the dirty work as he circles around.  

As far as I am concerned he lost that game for us against the Blues by being out of position on the PK.  He needs to go or sit in the Pross Box.  IMO: He doesn't even belong on the 4th line.

[MNCountryLife]

The With / Without Nojo chart above is very telling.  Really lets you know that he is costing us top 6 productivity... and wins.

[Will D. Ness]

Let's put Freddy and Nojo on the 4th line with Beckman.

Ek comes back as 1C. Hartman with Rossi and Zucc.  Foligno and Shaw with the Whoos Nut.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

47 minutes ago, MNCountryLife said:

Nojo rarely steals the puck away from the opposing team.  He does a poor job of covering his point man in the D zone.  Nojo is supposed to be a great puck handler but it sure seems like he loses possession the majority of the time.  I've watched us dominate in the O-zone only to switch to his line and he gives up control and zone on the very next shift.  Every one of his line mates has to do the dirty work as he circles around.  

As far as I am concerned he lost that game for us against the Blues by being out of position on the PK.  He needs to go or sit in the Pross Box.  IMO: He doesn't even belong on the 4th line.

All of this. I'm not sure why they would put him on the ice in PK situations. He has poor defensive instincts, plays soft, and has weak puck possession.

NHL.com indicates 33 goals for and 41 against with him on the ice Even Strength, and he's tied for the team lead with 4 short handed goals against despite spending far less time on the PP than a lot of other guys.

He's a terrible fit on a checking line and might make line 4 too soft to play against as well, so they keep him on line 2 because there's no good place for him on any other lines.

I honestly don't know how he looked as good as he did for that short time last season because he's never looked like that for the Wild any other years. I was disappointed when Guerin signed him, not because I thought $2M was way too much for what he'd just shown, but because I was certain that meant Nyquist wasn't coming back and I loved his game by comparison.

I suspect Khusnutdinov will soon be given his special teams responsibilities.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

Did the check that injured Gudas happen by him just being in Johansson's path like this gif?

Quote

Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas left the game in the first period with an upper-body injury after taking a check into the boards by Wild forward Marcus Johansson. Gudas did not return - 3/14/24

I didn't see it, and cannot recall Johansson actually seeking contact.

[Protec]

Tortorella just healthy scratched Sean Couturier. If NoJo keeps getting ice my opinion of Hynes and Guerin goes down the tube. Assuming they want to win.

Fred might be having a bad year but I don't see the lack of engagement or effort. Bad play, sure but not la-la-land like NoJo.

If the Wild are trying to stealth tank, that's the only way it makes sense playing NoJo unless they think insulating Knudi or Beckman is important. I don't think that makes sense nor does the stealth tank seem realistic. 

The NoJo contract made sense when he looked good for late last season. Now we remember all too well why we thought he sucked and didn't mind him getting injured against Vegas because the Wild went seven games against the Refs & Golden Knights. 

NoJo has zero NHL credibility with me anymore. Zero. You can't decide when you're gonna play, that's bullshit and he's a bum for being like that, whether the salary is 2M or league minimum. 

[Protec]

Q: Why is Nojo so frustrating to watch? (Article title)

A: NoJo sucks.

 

 

That's the simple answer but I can actually deliver a much better summarization. He's not a hockey player's hockey player...

What I mean is, he doesn't have all the qualities. Yes, I want a guy who can skate, and pass, and score. What I really want is a guy who does that but also blocks shots, stays out of the box, wins the individual battles, takes one for the team, draws a penalty, sticks up for a teammate, and generally has mental grit to match everything else so it generates a following by example. 

That's lofty standard but where the bar should be set. NoJo, skates well and sometimes brings some offense. That's it, and gives Euros a bad reputation. He's done every cliché thing in MN twice.

[MNCountryLife]

Lineup for tonight:

Kaprizov  Hartman Boldy
Johansson Rossi Zuccarello 
Foligno Marat Shaw 
Beckman Lucchini Gaudreau

Should be:
Kaprizov Hartman Boldy
Lucchini Rossi Zuccarello 
Foligno Marat Shaw 
Johansson Gaudreau Beckman

Then shorten the box to the top 3 lines for the majority of the game.  This keeps Johansson and Gaudreau off the ice.  

[mnfaninnc]

For me, the frustrating thing is seeing the speed and stickhandling into the zone followed by an unforced error. Sometimes you just wonder what he's thinking? I get that same vibe from Boldy too as he's often just too weak on his stick.

Also, Johansson is one of the bigger bodies on the team but folds like a house of cards when someone is in sneezing distance of him. Then he looks completely bewildered at the bench as to what happened, which, usually, has him retrieving his stick just before heading there. This guy has no balance if touched and he should. He has no ability to finish either, even when given grade A chances. Sometimes, it looks like he's lost confidence in himself as the last person who had any confidence in him. 

When I was in college, I had a 3 year stint around the St. Louis area where the Cardinals had a guy named "Joggin'" George Hendrick. He never seemed to put in any effort but that was simply the way he ran. He was noticeably picked on by the fans of the area and watching on tv, you could see why. Johansson reminds me of Hendrick where he's just in easy gear the whole time. His role and why he is paid $2m is to speed up, carry the puck in and distribute it to a teammate. At that point, his usefulness is done, and he really doesn't know what to do next either. 

What I'd like to see is him get benched and explained why he's being benched. Keep in mind, in the last 2 games he's actually thrown a hit, a nice one on Gudas. So, he'll need to know why he's eating nachos. But, I'd like to see a hungry Beckman get a chance instead. And for all the promise Beckman has, he's got to be more physical and he's got to win battles. And he's got to play like he wants that position and doesn't want to go back to the A. 

Johansson also needs to know that an NTC is not an NMC and he can be put on waivers to head to Iowa. Anyone at that point can pick him up, so if he has a destination he'd like to go to, perhaps Guerin can accommodate him. You've got to look like you're trying and so many nights he just doesn't have that look.

[mnfaninnc]

5 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

I didn't see it, and cannot recall Johansson actually seeking contact.

It looked like he apologized to him after the hit too, but it was on purpose.

[Protec]

10 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

It looked like he apologized to him after the hit too, but it was on purpose.

Just another example of how NoJo is a loose cannon out there. Somebody thinks he's doing something but he's literally just going on the ice and making mistakes with such laziness that he's even hurting guys accidentally on purpose. Total blowbag!

In 15mins of TOI last night against the Ducks #90 was the least productive forward if you look at the box score. No points, no shots, no hits. He got a +1 somehow but Beckman, Lucchinni, Shaw, Knudi, and Rossi all hadmuch better games. NoJo took a penalty too. He sucks, Bill! He eff'n sucks!

Every single game is this way... "But Protec, He's 55 CORSI", they say. GTFOH, this guy sucks! Give Beckman more ice! I don't wanna wish injuries on guys, but I want NoJo gone. Just buy out the contract and admit he's worthless in the NHL.

[Luke Sims]

If Torts can healthy scratch Sean Couturier Hynes can bench JoJo 

[Protec]

Classic Euro. Plays hard for two months, gets a new contract. Proceeds to be a lazy pile of shit picking up passenger-points on the 2nd line cause he scored 57 points once back in 2017. 

He's had a couple two-point games this year otherwise for all that TOI he's basically a total non-factor. If Guerin should be ashamed it should be for this. If players are being blocked from TOI or an NHL chance in the top six, it's because of this. If Hynes and Guerin are good at their jobs, than I cannot believe it with this assbag in the lineup.

[Luke Sims]

17 hours ago, Will D. Ness said:

Let's put Freddy and Nojo on the 4th line with Beckman.

Ek comes back as 1C. Hartman with Rossi and Zucc.  Foligno and Shaw with the Whoos Nut.

Fourth Line Fred has such a nice ring to it 

[Protec]

1 minute ago, Luke Sims said:

If Torts can healthy scratch Sean Couturier Hynes can bench JoJo 

That's what I'm talking about. Just look at the last five games. Worthless, pointless, gutless. Are we gonna hang our hat on his injuring a guy with a bad judgment boarding that went uncalled? 

Uh, Player Safety can you please suspend NoJo retroactively for 13 games please???

[Protec]

I figured out how to rationalize it boys. Use this to reduce cartoon-steam from blowing out your ears and diminish redness of the face...

As long as NoJo is doing 2nd line minutes metaphorically passed out in the back seat, young players will perform like a contract-year cause NoJo becomes a benchmark for them. The AHL guys or clever Russian can look amazing by comparison.

I'm turning the page. Let's make it a positive. Jokes and memes incoming...

[Protec]

Haha! You wanna know who's scored more goals in the last 5 games than NoJo???

Merrill & Bogosian. 

[mnfaninnc]

Was Johansson frustrating to watch last night? Yes he was. Sometimes you talk about "fit" for a player, and what it looks like is Johansson is on a different page than the rest of the team. 

You expect him to zig and he zags. He also does a lot of skating drills around the perimeter, not really going into areas which would require physicality. Watching him with a little more attention (mainly because he's usually invisible) you could see how he often simply gets lost, and even the cameras don't pick him up. 

He's only got a couple of moves, but once he gets in the zone, he carries the puck around the perimeter looking for someone driving the net. If he doesn't get that, he's toast and doesn't know what to do. Then some bully comes up and steals his lunch money (the puck). 

Note to Beckman: If you want that spot, Johansson doesn't like to take the body against anyone. However, against his better judgment, he has done so in the past 3 games, while last night they didn't get registered as hits. Start taking the body along with the rest of your game and you have a very good shot at taking that spot. 

Also, during the 2nd period, Johansson went down to line 3 with Dino. While Dino looked pretty good, again Johansson got lost. One thing might work, on the team, only Dino can keep up with Johansson's speed. This might work. Also, Dino played the "get back on defense" card very well last night.

[Protec]