Comments for Jack Johnson vs. Matt Carle at http://hockey.dobbersports.com , comment 1 to 4 out of 4 comments http://hockey.dobbersports.com Thu, 23 May 2013 18:02:57 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/laidlaw/5097-jack-johnson-vs-matt-carle#comment-23850 just wanted to comment that this article ended up being incredibly prescient for my league's draft, with another owner taking carle a few spots ahead of where i took JJ. we count ATOI as a 7th stat, so i'm particularly surprised he was passed over by so many. fingers crossed. one game in, and salo with more PP time than carle. - nattyB Sat, 19 Jan 2013 20:40:43 +0100 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/laidlaw/5097-jack-johnson-vs-matt-carle#comment-23462 Toltoi - I think top 10 is a stretch. Johnson is going to get prime minutes but he was getting prime minutes in Los Angeles. Doughty really wasn't preventing him from getting minutes. In fact, the two were the primary PP pairing for LA. We also have to wait and see what the Columbus strategy is going to be in terms of offense. I'm not sure how much we can actually take away from their end of season run under Todd Richards. I suspect Johnson's increased production was because of the increased ice time but that it will be difficult to sustain 27+ minutes a night for a full season. Odds are he falls back in line with the 22-24 minutes a night with around four minutes of power play time that he saw in LA. Also recall that LA was not always so defensive minded during Johnson's tenure there. It is true that the team was particularly low scoring the last two seasons but in 2009-10 the Kings had a top 10 offense and Johnson still only scored at about a 40-point pace. I wouldn't rule out Johnson scoring in the top 10 - as I said, he's got 50-point upside - but that's going to require more growth from him personally than supposed increased opportunity in Columbus. Does Johnson have the hockey sense necessary to climb up to the 50-point range? I'm sceptical but he does have the physical skills. Maybe he can Byfuglien his way into the top 10 by taking over as a physically dominating puck rusher. Again, I'm not ruling it out, you just don't always see players take extraordinary leaps in things like hockey sense so instead Johnson would likely have to be unleashed as Byfuglien-type puck rusher, which seems like a stretch to me - there's only one Byfuglien. Also, consider your top 10 for defensemen - we won't always see such low scoring years. Last season only five defensemen scored above 50 points but since the lockout the previous lows were seven and nine. Part of this decrease was because of a decrease in scoring in general but you still have to figure that affects everyone so if scoring continues to go down then it's still going to be a challenge for Johnson to get up to the 50-point range, which is where you need to get to make the top five-ten. Johnson finished 20th last season. He needs to make a serious leap to climb the ladder. You may be more optimistic but the safe money is to expect 40-points and to simply hope for more. - metaldude26 Thu, 06 Dec 2012 14:29:37 +0100 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/laidlaw/5097-jack-johnson-vs-matt-carle#comment-23460 I will not be surprised to see Johnson in the top 10 scoring defensemen this coming year. Maybe even top 5. Only 25 year old, no more Doughty in front of him, no more in a defense first team. Recipe for success! - Toltoï Thu, 06 Dec 2012 06:10:28 +0100 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/laidlaw/5097-jack-johnson-vs-matt-carle#comment-23458 thanks for a great breakdown! - OceanMon Wed, 05 Dec 2012 20:04:28 +0100