More defense depth for Bruins with signing of Johnson
Aaron Johnson
A week after they got journeyman Garnet Exelby to sign a two-way deal with them, the Bruins today inked another well-traveled defenseman to a one-year, two-way contract.
Aaron Johnson, who played 56 games for Columbus last season, will now be in the mix for a bottom-pair or seventh defenseman spot when Boston’s training camp opens.
Johnson, 29, has made two stops in Columbus, while his NHL career has also landed him with Chicago, the New York Islanders, Calgary and Edmonton. In 281 NHL games, he’s posted 17-45-62 totals. He’s a solid, stay-at-home defenseman with some physicality who at the very least will benefit the Providence (AHL) farm club with his skills and experience.
No way should we try to sign Semin, half of the value of our team comes from the locker room. A lot of our players play much better when they play with each other, and no reason to include a guy like Semin who would put a wrench in that mojo and not play defense on top of it. The ONLY way I wouldn’t mind seeing Semin come over is if the coaching staff and Semin explicitly agree that Semin has a few character changes and on-ice commitment changes he needs to make (I’m not holding my breath).
The fact that Philly signed Weber to this offer sheet means they think Pronger is done, so they should be looking about as good as they did last year, but at the cost of 4 first round picks (if NSH doesn’t match) and if they do, then all of a sudden Philly is out their top two from last year. Don’t forget, they also gave up JVR and Jagr and a lot of their roster players are still young and growing so they are a very high risk team. Oh and they have the Lou of the East.
NY looks really good right now and will definitely be a contender, I do like them over Pittsburgh based on their d and goaltending. They look a lot like the Bruins on paper, but with better wingers and worse centers (Sorry, not a Richards fan) so I think that we will be about their equal this year.
Fleury is highly overrated and I doubt that he can really be justified as a no. 1 pick. Pittsburgh will continue to be a contender because of their forwards, but held back by their d and goaltending which Vokun probably improved.
As for Washington, the addition of Ribero and subtraction of Semin may just be what the doctor ordered, but I still don’t think they’re on par with the B’s although they do have that potential.
TB also looks to have a super duper deep defense as long as, well, all of them don’t spend the season on the IR, and if Lindback works out the way they hope they could get there too.
The rest aren’t really worth mentioning (check back in a year, FLA)
I agree with that as well. But seeing Nash go for mediocre players bums me out. With Savard’s $ in LTIR they could afford something. Like I said Semin hasn’t signed….Barf.
Ben
The B’s are between a rock and a hard place as a result of the Thomas fiasco. His impact on the cap doesn’t allow for a lot of flexibility. I hope Horton is okay, but hopefully one or two of the young guys Caron/Knight/Koko will move their games up.
Now that Nash is a Ranger how are the Bruins going to respond? How is Horton’s head? There has been some MAJOR improvements in the big east teams. Unless Horton is 100% the Bruins are in trouble. Hell what about Semin? Oh I just threw up in my mouth saying that.
The Weber signing is another front loaded Philly atrocity. Picking up these big players means screwing your cap situation years later…balance is key imo.
…and for a hell of alot less than Weber too.
We have Chara
That’s great. We sign Johnson and Philly signs Weber. Let’s go PC, we need to improve this team. We are no longer the Champs.