Fantasy Impact: The New Jersey Devils have traded forward Marcus Johansson to the Boston Bruins for a second-round draft pick and a fourth-round draft pick.
The Devils add: two picks for a player who wasn't really a part of their plans. And frankly, he never seemed to be.
The Bruins add: good forward depth and a player who can contribute production from the third line.
Fantasy Players Impacted: Johansson was actually getting substantial PP time with the Devils (48.8% of available PP time) and is still only on a 46-point pace. His career high is 58 points, set two years ago during a contract year, but last year his season was derailed by a concussion. He hasn't been quite the same player since. But with the Bruins, he's another body for their top nine. For the short term, thanks to the David Pastrnak injury, he could actually be tried out on the huge Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron line. If that works out, Johansson could actually surprise.
David Backes has been an occasional healthy scratch lately and that's going to happen with more frequency now. I think this should also eat a bit of key time for Danton Heinen.
In New Jersey we have already seen the impact because Johansson had been scratched the last two games. The PP until has Jesper Bratt, Nico Hischier, Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac – with Taylor Hall obviously taking over from Zajac down the road. That's a real nice bump for Bratt, so he stands to really benefit here.
Fantasy players this helps, in order
1. Johansson for the short term
2. Bratt
Fantasy players this hurts, in order
1. Backes