Jack Johnson is not good. In fact, he might be one of the worst players IN THE LEAGUE.
Athletically, sure, he can do incredible things... But he actively hurts his team every time he's on the ice. He is consistently DESTROYED in puck possession, scoring chances, shots, and goals.
I would rather have Ehrhoff at $6m/yr than Jack Johnson at $1.5m/yr. Did nobody notice how much better the Kings got when he stopped being a dead weight on their team? After they jettisoned him and added a great possession player in Carter, they outshot 15 teams in a row by a combined 452-302 - and 13 of those 15 teams were
playoff teams.
Last year the Blue Jackets were actually respectable in puck possession (at roughly the midway point of the year, after game #46, the Blue Jackets were actually outshooting the opposition overall), but the season was lost with poor puck luck when shooting and awful goaltending (Mason has is clearly not an NHL goaltender but Howson kept going back to that well).. This year, with Johnson leading the team in ice time, they've been pulverized and sit
last in the league by a mile.
Johnson does all the things that make you go "wow, look at that!" and yet at the end of the day, he's ruined his teams chances at a win. I don't mean to disrespect people who voted for him, but seriously, he's absolutely awful.
edit: Here is the Blue Jackets defensemen, this season, courtesy
hockeyanalysis.com
Shot ratios
| Linemate | WITH Johnson | WITHOUT Johnson | Johnson without <linemate> |
| Wisniewski | 46.6% | 63.9% | 39.6% |
| Dorsett | 48.6% | 44.9% | 42.0% |
| Umberger | 40.5% | 46.1% | 37.2% |
| Brassard | 41.0% | 52.5% | 45.6% |
| Foligno | 49.5% | 52.8% | 42.5% |
When Wisniewski is paired with Johnson, the Jackets control the puck roughly 46.6% of the time. When Johnson loses
the defensive stability of Wisniewski, the team drops to 39.6%.
Let that sink in - James Wisniewski is pulling Jack Johnson up defensively by a lot!
Dorsett doesn't improve without Jack Johnson, because Dorsett isn't a very good hockey player. Umberger, Brassard, and Foligno all see massive increases away from JJ, and massive drops when they're on the ice with him.
