Colorado Avalanche: Does Johan Johansson Actually Upgrade Goalie Position?
Photo Credit: Harry Scull Jr/Buffalo News
The Colorado Avalanche and Buffalo Sabres made a minor trade on Friday, or at least they are trying too. News broke Friday morning that the teams had agreed upon a trade that included Sabres' goaltender Jonas Johansson.
Details on the trade have yet to emerge, but multiple sources have been able to confirm that it is a transaction waiting to happen.
Now, due to multiple players on the Boston Bruins heading to the COVID-19 list, the trade has been put on hold for the time being. The Bruins being the last team the Sabres played against, so now to prevent a spread to a third team, the move has been put on the back burner.
The trade was made to help beef up the goaltending position for Colorado, who certainly can use someone to take some of the pressure off of Philipp Grubauer, who is carrying a heavy workload this season.
Hunter Miska has been the main backup to Grubauer with Pavel Francouz yet to play this season after being placed on the Long-Term Injured Reserve list. The 25 year old, and former Mike Ritcher award finalist for top Division I goalie, has struggled in the opportunities he has gotten.
And saying that he has 'struggled' may not put enough emphasis on his play this season.
Miska has been one of the worst goalies in the league, statistically, in just five games played this season.
So naturally, almost anyone would be an upgrade at this point, right?
That may not be the case when it comes to Johansson, despite his surprisingly good pedigree. The Swedish born netminder was the sixth goalie selected in the 2014 draft, and was selected over some very notable names - Elvis Merzlikins, Ilya Sorokin, Kaapo Kahkonen, and Igor Shesterkin.
Not a bad tick to their resume.
Despite a huge frame standing at 6'5", Johansson hasn't been able to use it to his advantage. It's hard to put too much stock in his win/loss record, or even some of his other numbers due to being on such a bad Sabres team, but there isn't much to go on in to say that he will be a better solution than Miska at this point.
Hunter Miska | Statistic | Jonas Johansson |
.871 (64th) | 5v5 SV% | .881 (61st) |
-4.01 (51st) | GSAA | -6.58 (59th) |
.792 (50th) | 5v5 HDSV% | .797 (44th) |
-0.72 (31st) | HDGSAA | -1.48 (43rd) |
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