The Toronto Maple Leafs have traded winger Andreas Johnsson to the New Jersey Devils for prospect winger Joey Anderson.

The Leafs get: a hardworking, gritty player custom-made for the third line. Anderson brings energy and a decent enough offensive touch for the role. They can finally stop slotting scoring line players into such a role and instead slide in a guy who was made for it. They also get some cap relief – again, GM Kyle Dubas is dancing around what really needs to be done (by trading one of their Big 4 forwards – but I’ll dig into that in Monday’s Ramblings)

The Devils get: an underrated and skilled top-six forward in Johnsson, with a reputation as a clutch player at other levels, but who has been somewhat injury prone early in his NHL career.

Fantasy Players Impacted: The Leafs have been running with too many players vying for top-six roles. Skill-type players. And the ones who are left out of the top six were pigeonholed into checking-line duty. It didn't fit and it didn't work. So now instead of rotating Ilya Mikheyev, Kasperi Kapanen, Andreas Johnsson and potentially Nicholas Robertson into just two spots with the rest becoming checkers, the team can focus on just using Mikheyev and Robertson in those spots. Anderson slots in as a legit third-liner, and recently-signed Wayne Simmonds does as well. In essence, this takes the questions out of it for fantasy owners – you now know who is in the top six:

Zach Hyman – Auston Matthews – Mitch Marner

Ilya Mikheyev – John Tavares – William Nylander

Or shuffle the wingers up and down as you see fit. You just won't see any of them slot down to the third or fourth line anymore. Of course, this means that the wingers who are actually on the third line aren't as strong offensively – and that hurts Alex Kerfoot, who will likely center that line.

Over in New Jersey, the acquisition of Johnsson has a ripple effect. Pavel Zacha was playing last season as if his next step was a shot on the second line. Now Johnsson knocks him down a peg. Johnsson will compete with Nikita Gusev for a top-line spot. Gusev would win that contest, but is there really a loser when the options are Nico Hischier or an improving (and sure to rebound) Jack Hughes? Johnsson is no longer buried in a deep lineup and instead will be given a great opportunity. This also impacts the odds of prospects making the team, such as Jesper Boqvist.

One worry with Johnsson is that he has suffered through several injuries to his leg, more specifically his knee. He's also had a concussion during his brief NHL tenure. But if he can play 80 games, the Devils have themselves a good one.

The stats comparison between Johnsson and Anderson (click here)

As you can see in the Usage Chart below, Johnsson was used a lot on the first line last season and he wasn't too bad – just not nearly as good as his linemates.

Read up on Joey Anderson at DobberProspects here

Fantasy Players this helps, in order:

Andreas Johnsson

Ilya Mikheyev

Zach Hyman

Jack Hughes

Fantasy Players this hurts, in order:

Pavel Zacha

Alex Kerfoot

Jesper Boqvist