Blackhawks Facing Tough Offseason Decision With Tyler Johnson

The Chicago Blackhawks are now over a month into the offseason, and while the NHL Playoffs are still in full swing, the Blackhawks’ management isn’t taking the night off. As a result, the team has a lot of decisions to make when it comes to the NHL Draft, free agency, and the trade market. They have to improve, and there are many different avenues they can explore, all of which include making decisions on players on the current roster and where they may fit into the future. It’s easy to direct that conversation toward free agents, but those who still have time left on their contracts make for the hardest resolves. One of those players is Tyler Johnson.

Johnson’s Unlucky Season

Johnson came to the Blackhawks in July 2021 from the Tampa Bay Lightning as part of a salary cap relief trade for both teams. Tampa Bay took on Brent Seabrook’s contract, while the Blackhawks took on Johnson’s seven-year, $35 million contract. It seemed like a great move because the Blackhawks acquired goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury and defenseman Seth Jones around the same time, and getting all of those players are the types of actions you take when you want to win, which is what the team was hoping would happen. Yet, that plan went awry for Chicago and Johnson.

Johnson started the season only playing in the first eight games before missing some time with neck discomfort stemming from an Oct. 29 game versus the Carolina Hurricanes. It wasn’t considered that serious then, but it became just that. Three weeks later, he was placed on long-term injured reserve and got artificial disk replacement surgery in December, the highly-publicized surgery that Vegas Golden Knights’ forward Jack Eichel received a month prior.

Johnson was expected to miss three months, and he was right on schedule as he made his Blackhawks’ return on March 3 against the Edmonton Oilers. However, 6 games after his return, he accidentally got hit in the head with a puck by teammate Dominik Kubalik when the Blackhawks’ faced the Ottawa Senators on March 12. He was placed on the injured reserve again and missed six games due to a concussion.

Johnson returned against the Buffalo Sabres on March 28 and played through the rest of the season. After that, the only hiccup was that he was a healthy scratch four times in the Blackhawks’ final 14 games. He missed 56 games, which is the most amount of time he has missed during his 10-year career.

Johnson’s Impact On Blackhawks

Although Johnson missed a majority of the season, he was still able to have an impact on the Blackhawks during the games he did play. When the season started, he was named the first-line center alongside Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat, and he was deployed on the team’s first power play unit as well. It was a stark contrast for a player who barely saw power play time and was a bottom-six player in Tampa Bay in 2020-21. Although that first line was loved during training camp, it didn’t pan out as hoped and only lasted for two games before being split up. Afterward, he saw time on the second line with Jonathan Toews and Dominik Kubalik. Still, he mostly found a home on the third and fourth lines, particularly the fourth line with linemates including MacKenzie Entwistle, Jujhar Khaira, and Ryan Carpenter.

Although a natural center, Johnson wasn’t always used in that position, occasionally playing wing, and the times he did play center were outstanding. Out of the 51 draws he took, he had 31 wins, resulting in a faceoff percentage of 60.8, which led the entire team.

Lightning head coach Jon Cooper stated last year, “There’s a reason Tyler Johnson’s trophy case is fairly full. It’s because he’s an ultimate team player. He’s selfless, and there was a time in this organization when we needed to take another step and Tyler Johnson was one of the leaders of that.” That quote says a lot. Having players like him that have the work ethic, drive, selflessness, and championship experience are invaluable to any team.

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I know there are plenty of reasons to trade Johnson in the offseason, as every NHL team needs a player like him, and the Blackhawks could shed salary in the process, but it also makes sense to keep him. It’s a tough decision, but going into next season with him on the roster makes the team better, not worse.