Raw Charge
The Tampa Bay Lightning aren’t going to carry three goaltenders on the roster this season. That much we can be assured of a month out from training camp. When Julien BriseBois acquired Dennis Hildeby from the Toronto Maple Leafs, he was pretty certain that the plan was for the young Swede to backup Andrei Vasilevskiy for the 2026-27 season. The fly in the jelly, the bump in the road, the Skittle in the M&M’s is the fact that Jonas Johansson is still on the roster. Speaking with the media following the early July free agent frenzy, Mr. BriseBois indicated that the team would be working with Johansson to find a new organization for the 30-year-old, “It’s still early in the process, but JJ has been great for us, is a great teammate, has won us a lot of hockey games, I’m fairly confident we’re gonna get him something that works for him and works for us.” Almost two months later, they’ve yet to find that “something that works”, which, given his performance last season is somewhat understandable. To be kind, Jonas Johansson had a shaky season in net. He appeared in 25 games, posted a 11-10-2 record with a 3.29 GAA and .884 SV%. According to Hockey Reference , 11 of his 23 starts were considered quality while 6 were really bad. Out of the 91 goalies that Evolving Hockey recorded stats for, Johansson’s -4.40 GSAx came in 82nd. That being said, he did have a nice stretch of play in December when Vasilevskiy was out with an injury, including a run of four-out-of-five games where he allowed just one goal. Following The Big Cat’s return, Johansson’s playing time became quite rare as he appeared in just nine games from January to April. The effect of his sporadic appearances was evident as he posted a 3-4-1 record with an .864 SV%, 4.12 GAA, and -7.40 GSAx over that time frame. With a longer season ahead, a more competitive division, and a starting goaltender who may be the best in the league, but isn’t getting younger, the need to upgrade the backup position was evident, and Mr. BriseBois took the chance to do so when he dealt away Nick Paul to acquire the younger Hildeby. So what should they do now with Johansson and the $1.25 million cap hit he has for this season? There are a couple of options. The Lightning could put him on waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract. Teams have used that option recently when unable to trade a player. That would make Johansson an unrestricted free agent and free to sign with any team in the NHL or Europe. With training camps getting ready to start in the big European leagues, it feels like this option would have already happened if they wanted to go down this path. Tampa Bay could also place him on waivers, and if he clears, assign him to Syracuse. With the league’s minimum salary going up to $900,000, it also means the amount of money that can be “buried” in the AHL and not count against the salary cap has gone up to $1.275 million (the threshold is calculated as the league minimum plus $375,000). That would clear his entire cap hit, but the crease in Syracuse is kind of full right now. With the departure of Brendan Halverson, the Bolts signed Mads Sogaard and Olivier Rodrique to contracts. They also have prospect Harrison Meneghin under contract, and while he will probably start the season in Orlando, they will want him to get some playing time in the AHL at some point. A small argument for this case could be made that it gives the Lightning some insurance should Vasilevskiy miss a long stretch of time. Hildeby could be the starter and Johansson could be recalled to back him up if need be. Syracuse could carry three goaltenders in the meantime, but this is not an ideal solution for the Lightning or Johansson. So, that leaves the third option – a trade. The return for a soon-to-be 31-year-old netminder who has put up below replacement stats for much of his career wouldn’t be huge. Future Considerations has been on the move a lot, and could be heading to Tampa if the Lightning do find a willing partner. Freeing up a contract spot along with the salary would be the best solution for the Bolts, even if they don’t garner a draft pick out of the deal. The issue with this solution is that there just aren’t many teams in the NHL where Johansson is a fit or improvement over the tandem already in place. A quick scan of the other 31 organizations quickly eliminates the majority of the teams. An argument could be made for Pittsburgh if they don’t think either of their young goalies (Sergei Murashov or Joel Blomqvist) aren’t ready to backup Arturs Silovs. If Winnipeg deals Conner Hellebuyck or Minnesota sends one of their goaltenders to Detroit in the inevitable Dylan Larkin deal, there could be openings for a veteran with those organizations, but there may be better options for those organizations to fill those holes. At this point, the top two teams that might be interested in Jonas Johansson are teams that are dealing with injuries to their starters – Vancouver and Columbus. As of right now, both Thatcher Demko and Elvis Merzlikins are questionable to start the season for their respective clubs. The appeal of Johansson would be that he is a veteran who does have a little experience in filling in for a short time as a starter. If Demko is out, Kevin Lankinen is probably Vancouver’s starter. One of the netminders that posted a lower GSAx than Johansson last season – Kevin Lankinen at -7.12. He went 5-17-2 with an .868 SV% and 3.92 GAA. Columbus is in a little better position with Jet Greaves as a starter, but there isn’t much in the organization behind him. Merzlikins is questionable for training camp, and Johansson as a short-term back-up might not be the worst solution. Once (or in Demko’s case “if”) either of those starters come back, Columbus and Vancouver would have the option of waiving Johansson and not on the hook for him long term. That might be a little more appealing than working out a trade for someone with a higher cap hit or a longer contract commitment. The decision to move on or to hold Jonas Johansson isn’t going to make or break the Lightning’s season. One way or the other, he isn’t going to be on their roster come October 1, which give Tampa Bay little more cap space to play with throughout the season.
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