There may be another trade brewing in the National Hockey League and it may not be long before we see it materialize.
According to a report from TSN National Hockey League insider Pierre LeBrun it now appears that the New Jersey Devils are not only willing to trade veteran forward Marcus Johansson but additionally that the trade may come in short order. According to LeBrun a return to good health and the resulting return to good form on the ice for Johansson has once again put him front and center ahead of the 2019 National Hockey League trade deadline.
"Johansson will be a sneaky good trade deadline pickup for a contender now that he’s healthy and playing well," said LeBrun on Saturday.
It's true that Johansson's form has really taken a significant jump as of late with the 28 year old winger picking up a very respectable 11 points over his last 10 games. Even prior to that Johansson was showing a sign of a return to his old ways with a total of 20 points over his last 28 outings with the New Jersey Devils. Now normally a move of this nature would not be particularly easy to pull off due to the fact that Johansson has some limited trade protection under his current contract. That being said though according to LeBrun the teams on the list of team's that Johansson could refuse a trade to are not the ones that have currently shown interest.
"He has a 5-team no-trade list but my understanding is that none of those teams would be in play anyway," added LeBrun.
Perhaps the most interesting detail of all however comes in the form of the potential timing of a trade involving Johansson ahead of the deadline. LeBrun's comments, although not an outright proclamation, did heavily hint at the fact that this is a trade that could happen sooner rather than later. Specifically LeBrun cited the fact that Ray Shero is currently at the helm of the New Jersey Devils as a reason that this one may get done very quickly indeed.
"Interest has picked up last few days on Johansson. And judging by Ray Shero’s history, he’s not a guy that likes to wait until deadline day."
Stay tuned.
[pub]
