With the wheels of training camp expected to start turning next week with the open of Bruins captain practices, it felt like it was getting to be time for Boston’s brass to make the move on any veteran camp invites they had in mind.
That little piece of hockey business was at least partially taken care of on Saturday as the Bruins announced they have signed veteran right shot forward Tyler Johnson. The undrafted 34-year-old has enjoyed an impressive career with 738 NHL games between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Chicago Blackhawks and is coming off 17 goals and 31 points in 67 games for a young, struggling Haws club.
THIS DATE IN 2015: Tyler Johnson scores the first playoff hat trick in @TBLightning history. It comes in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final at Madison Square Garden as the Lightning even the series and eventually win in seven games. #NHLStats: https://t.co/pe83vS8OEp pic.twitter.com/wPPvIuNKJs
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) May 18, 2021
It's been six years since Johnson has cracked the 20-goal mark at the NHL level and his minus-64 mark in three seasons with Chicago definitely speaks to a player that’s not quite what he was when he was posting 29 goals and 72 points for the Lightning in 2014-15, but he’s a skilled, experienced forward that can play wing or center and has two Stanley Cup rings (2020 and 2021 with the Lightning) amongst his 116 games of Stanley Cup playoff experience.
Those heyday seasons with the Lightning came as Johnson was a part of the “Triplets” line with Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat, who had all played with Bolts head coach Jon Cooper at the AHL level before they were all promoted to Tampa Bay. Johnson showed he was speedy, skilled and a pretty good two-way player during those days with the Bolts where he seemed to always get the most out of his ability.
Johnson would seem to project as a third-line forward if the 5-foot-8, 185-pounder ultimately makes the team, but he’s also an experienced hand that could potentially play with Brad Marchand and Charlie Coyle if top-6 candidates like Fabian Lysell, Georgii Merkulov, Trent Frederic, Morgan Geekie, Justin Brazeau and Max Jones can’t lock down the gig in NHL training camp.
Johnson also could be an experienced center candidate if 21-year-old Matt Poitras isn’t quite ready for NHL duty during training camp as well. Interestingly, Johnson finished last season tied with Nick Foligno for the Blackhawks team lead in power-play goals (eight) in an area where he could potentially help Boston’s second PP unit.
Training camp invites are the epitome of potential “low risk, high reward” with nothing on the line for the Black and Gold unless they decide to sign the player, which they did last season with Danton Heinen in a move that worked out very well for both parties. There are still other players hanging around unsigned at this point with Max Pacioretty, Blake Wheeler and Kailer Yamamoto among others looking for work, so it will be interesting to see if they bring in another veteran forward like they did last season with Alex Chiasson.
The bottom line for Johnson is that the Bruins probably represent one of the best chances for a veteran forward to hook on with the NHL team based on the open roster left by Jake DeBrusk’s free-agent departure to the Vancouver Canucks.
“You're probably sacrifice, chasing something on the wing as a result of [the Nikita Zadorov signing]. You're really prioritizing getting a center [in Elias Lindholm], as I mentioned, and going into free agency, you're gonna enter an uncomfortable zone, right? The [salary cap] pie is only so big. That's what happens.
“Somebody is going to have to [step up and replace DeBrusk’s production]. The ice time is going to get distributed. The two guys [in Coyle and Marchand] that maybe they play with if you need the top line together are pretty damn good hockey players. Somebody should be happy to be getting that opportunity. And I'll keep an eye out towards maybe something that presents itself. Certainly, if it doesn't [present itself] now, then during the course of the season if there's a void there.”
Certainly, Coyle and Marchand are excited about the possibilities of playing another full season together after building up chemistry last season, and what a talented third linemate could potentially bring to the table. Given the way Johnson performed with Palat and Kucherov in the distant past, it would be interesting to give him looks with similarly talented offensively gifted players after logging mostly bottom-6 time in Chicago last season.
But Coyle, good pro that he is, isn’t taking anything for granted with the Bruins even coming off his best, most productive NHL season as he finally earned a steady top-6 center spot at the NHL level.
“I used to be kind of a revolving door, like playing up and down the lineup — wing, center — even when I was in Minnesota,” said Coyle during Bruins Fan Fest in Weymouth a couple of weeks ago. “Here, I’ve kind of been a staple which has been good. I’ve been put in a spot, so it makes it a little easier to succeed and play well. But we’ll see what happens.
“Like I said, hopefully guys step up and someone takes the initiative. We’ve all got to make the team and earn your spot. That’s the mindset. So that’s how I go into camp, and I want to earn my spot out there, and however it works out, whatever the coaches think — I’m going to play to the best of my ability, whether it’s with Marchy and whoever else is there, and we’re going to do the best we can. That’s all you can ask for.”
Some quality looks during training camp and the preseason alongside Marchand and Coyle is probably all that Johnson could ask for, as well, after going the entire summer without a guaranteed NHL contract. He gives the Bruins a smart insurance policy in case anything doesn’t pan out exactly the way the B’s hope and plan with a number of top-6 forward candidates that haven’t been consistently up to that particular task previously.