Absolutely not honestly Russell is a lot better then Johnson imo and on a short term. No thanks

The top pair dman for the first place team in the metro is not useful.

I honestly appreciate your persistence with this...

Well, he's a negative impact in that role. So that qualifies as the opposite of useful, unless you define useful as being a warm body in that role.

A lot better may be a bit of a stretch. Neither are good. But yes, Russell for one year is better than having Johnson. This trade is under the assumption that your GM thinks otherwise since he was one of the ones that tried to sign him.

Do you watch the game or just look at the fancy stats? Honest question. How much do you actually watch the game, specifically Johnson?

I watch every game and watch him mishandle passes at the blue line, make bad breakout passes, lose track of players in front of the net, and have at least half a dozen pucks bounce off him and into his own net.

He does a lot of small things badly, which is why he has a clear negative impact. When he can't receive a pass at the blue line, the team loses possession and opportunities to score. This is why his "fancy stats" look bad. It's not an accident.

When he lets players stand in front of the net to score, this is also reflected in his numbers. Teams get a lot more high danger chances near the net when he's on the ice vs when literally any other Penguin D is on the ice in the same situations.


The funny thing is that everything I'm seeing is backed up by data. The eye test matches the underlying numbers.
Also "do you even watch the game" is a stupid thing to say when you disagree with someone.

Pittsburgh would need to kick in some serious assets to make this happen. And Edmonton doesn't need defensemen anyhow - they already have 10 under control for next year.