Devils Acquire Marcus Johansson from Capitals for 2018 Draft Picks

Today, the Devils traded for forward Marcus Johansson in a trade with the Washington Capitals. In exchange, they sent over two picks in the upcoming 2018 Draft - more specifically, the Florida Panthers’ 2nd round pick and the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 3rd round pick.

(The Devils held the rights to those picks from the Marc Savard trade and as compensation for Toronto’s hiring of Lou Lamoriello, respectively.)

Who’d we get?

Johansson was picked 24th overall in the 2009 NHL Draft by Washington. The 26-year old has played for the Capitals for all seven seasons of his professional career. He has 290 points (102 goals, 188 assists) in 501 games across those seasons.

Last season, Johansson set several career highs: goals (24), points (58), and plus/minus (+25). He skated in all 82 regular season games and 13 playoff games. He put up 2 goals and 6 assists on their playoff run.

What’d we inherit?

Johansson has two years left on a three-year contract. The contract’s average annual value is $4.58 million.

What do you think?

It looks like Shero was able to bring in a talented forward by taking advantage of the Capitals’ tight cap space situation - they needed to lock down deals with Orlov, Kuznetsov, and Oshie first. Additionally, Shero was able to make good use of the high number of draft picks the team has available.

The Devils need goal scorers. To me, it looks like we just brought one in.

How do you feel about the move to acquire Johansson?