The Sabres are at a crossroads with Ryan Johnson, and the issue is pretty simple: he’s been around long enough to matter, but not enough has opened up for him to stick.
Johnson is a defense-first blue-liner who does his best work away from the spotlight. At 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds, he isn’t the kind of player who bullies opponents physically, but he does the little things well.
He’s steady in his own zone, makes smart breakout passes, helps shut down rushes, and generally plays a clean, reliable game. There’s nothing flashy about it, but there’s value in that kind of defender.
The production numbers back up that profile. In 47 NHL games, Johnson has seven points, all assists.
In the AHL with the Rochester Americans, he has posted seven goals and 41 points in 149 games. He isn’t going to light up a scoresheet, but his skating and puck handling give him a chance to hold down a third-pair NHL role.
The problem is opportunity. Buffalo’s current blue line already includes Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, Mattias Samuelsson, Louis Crevier, Olen Zellweger, and Conor Timmins, with Zach Metsa and Dennis Gilbert sitting as the seventh and eighth options.
Behind that group, Radim Mrtka is positioned as one of the first call-ups, with Johnson further down the list. Right now, he looks like a ninth- or 10th-defenseman, which means he’d need a major injury or a serious shake-up before getting another real chance in Buffalo.
That’s what makes Johnson such a tricky case. He’s 25, and while his path was slowed by his college commitment, he has already shown enough times that he can handle NHL minutes.
The issue isn’t whether he can play somewhere. It’s whether the Sabres have room for him.
That leaves Buffalo with a decision to make. They can keep Johnson as long-term depth, if he’s willing to accept that role, or they can try to extract some value by moving him. As a first-round pick in the 2019 Draft, he still has enough pedigree and enough pro experience that another team would likely find a spot for him.
The return wouldn’t be huge. It probably wouldn’t even be significant. But from Johnson’s standpoint, and maybe from the Sabres’ standpoint too, it may be the cleanest solution.
He’s handled the situation the right way. Since arriving in Buffalo, Johnson has been professional, patient, and steady through limited chances.
He’s been exactly the kind of prospect an organization can trust. At some point, that has to count for something.
The Sabres need to decide: either give him a real role or move him somewhere that will.
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Sabres Young Core Suddenly Faces A Much Harder Follow Up
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The pressure is different now because the Sabres are no longer trying to prove they belong, but trying to stay there while the rest of the Atlantic sharpens around them. For Buffalo, the margin for error gets thinner if its promising young players merely repeat themselves instead of taking another step, and the season ahead will say plenty about whether last year was the start of something lasting or just a brief surge. [Read more 🡒]