DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS		Defense
ZACH WERENSKI Rating: 78.4#5 LD	MARKUS NUTIVAARA Rating: 72.4#52 RD	DL1 Rating Rating: 75.44#9 DL1
VLADISLAV GAVRIKOV Rating: 71.8#80 LD	DAVID SAVARD Rating: 72.4#54 RD	DL2 Rating Rating: 72.06#23 DL2
SCOTT HARRINGTON Rating: 71.2#95 LD	ANDREW PEEKE Rating: 72.6#49 RD	DL3 Rating Rating: 71.89#12 DL3

Anyways, even with a completely healthy Blue Jackets roster, I like the Leafs odds of surviving the play-in and moving on to the playoffs and the further the Leafs move along in the post season, a question comes to mind…

Will Andreas Johnsson play?

I’m not going to presume to know anything medically about his rehab process, but I do know how to look at a calendar and based on six months from the tweet below and that puts Johnsson’s return in the middle of August.

The @MapleLeafs announced that forward Andreas Johnsson underwent successful knee surgery earlier today.

He is expected to miss six months. #LeafsForever

— Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) February 19, 2020

So assuming half of July is gone to training camp, the half is gone to the play-in round, it seems entirely possible that Leafs could have Johnsson back for either the first or second round of the real playoffs, assuming they make it that far.

It’s not that this has been an ideal offensive output year for Andreas. He was behind his 20 goal, 43 points in 73 game pace of the previous year, only scoring 8 goals and picking up 21 points in the 43 games he played this season. He did however take more strides as a complete player, joining the penalty kill, and seeing his hit and blocked shot numbers increase, and he had encouraging five on five shot differentials and expected goal results as well, transitioning him to more of a complimentary player in the top six, a la Zach Hyman, rather than relying on him to drive offense on a sheltered third line.

While this may be wishful thinking and there’s no reason to believe that Johnsson would be fully ready to go and instead might just be ready to start on ice training by August, adding Johnsson back to the Leafs lineup brings the team as close to being a fully operational Death Star as they’ve been all year. (Assuming no injuries occur in training camp or the play-in round.)

While at this point it might be a lot of wishful thinking, having Johnsson play hockey again this year is back on the table is something to look forward to and only helps raise the expectations of what the Leafs could do in this cobbled together playoff format.