Marcus Johansson: 2016-17 Season Review

In past season reviews for Marcus Johansson, much of the debate centered around whether the Swedish forward is a legitimate top-six forward and how big of a commitment the Caps should make to keep him around. Many of those who opposed Mojo as a legit top-six forward were slowly converted during the 2015-16 season. Johansson’s 2016-17 season should have eased any lingering concerns over his importance to this team.

By The Numbers

Visualization by HockeyViz

About this visualization: This series of charts made by Micah Blake McCurdy of hockeyviz.com shows various metrics for the player over the course of the 2016-17 season. A short description of each chart:

1. Most common teammates during 5-on-5
2. Ice time per game, split up by game state
3. 5-on-5 adjusted shot attempts by the team (black) and opponents (red)
4. 5-on-5 adjusted shooting percentage by the team (black) and opponents (red)
5. Individual scoring events by the player
6. 5-on-5 adjusted offensive (black) and defensive (red) zone starts

Pat’s Take

What a season for Johansson. Johansson set a career-high in goals (24) and points (58) in 2016-17 and followed that up with a respectable 8 points in 13 playoff games. But, as much as this was an impressive season for Johansson, nothing stands out as dramatically different from the previous two seasons, the time in which Johansson has truly solidified his role on this team. Really, this was just another solid season for a remarkably solid and consistent player who is now firmly entrenched as an importance piece in the Caps top six.

But the appreciation for Johansson should not stop at his offensive numbers. He’s also become a very solid two-way player. WinnersView released a video on  Johannson in which they claimed he is one of the better two-way forwards in the league (The video embed feature on WinnersView isn’t working, so click the link to watch).

Here was their evidence:

• Since 2014-15, Johansson has reduced the Caps shot attempts allowed per 60 by 3.45 when he’s on the ice, ranking in the top 14 percent of forwards.
• During that same time, Johansson has posted 1.35 points per 60 at 5-on-5, putting him inside the top 27 percent of all forwards.
• Only seven forwards have better shot suppression and point production numbers during this span. They are: Brad Marchand, Daniel Sedin, Joe Pavelski, Patrice Bergeron, Patric Hornqvist, Tomas Tatar, and Nino Niederreiter.

Johansson is no longer much of a bargain at a cap hit of $4.58 million per season, but he’s worth the money and a very important part of this club.

Jojo on RMNB

• Aaaaaalright.
• Our real coverage begins with salary negotiations. It started bad, got worse, and then had a surprise happy ending. It’s the Caps season in reverse.

• Dangerous cute baby. That’s Mila right there.
• When the Tre Kronor line dominated early in the season, it was Marcus Johansson rippling the twine most often. Red-hot start.
• Everyone’s favorite soft-serve Swede earned a will over skill robe for doing a hit on Jacob Markstrom. Hey, do you think will over skill will be a thing next season or will it join winning on the trash heap of Caps history?

• Just a bullet about accomplishments: career high in goals, goal in his 500th game, NHL star of the week.
• Finishing off the twister.

• We went over this last year, but it doesn’t hurt to repeat: Johansson is a tremendous net-front presence on the power play.
• Until his hand got broke, Johansson had a great playoffs, with two goals and three assists in the Leafs series. Both goals came in Game Six, where he tied the game and then won it in overtime, earning a kiss from Uncle Ted. After the injury, Johansson collected three more assists but did not himself score.
• Finally, of course, here’s Lars Johansson. A human treasure.

Your Turn

How important do you think Johansson is to this team? On a team with so much star power, does he get the creit he deserves?

Read more: Japers’ Rink, Stars and Sticks

Headline photo: Amanda Bowen