Player Discussion: Kent Johnson - Winger or Center?

[CBJWerenski8]

“I was a little surprised,” Johnson told The Athletic. “I didn’t really see it coming. I definitely thought (I was an NHL player).”“I’m doing all right,” Johnson said. “Ups and downs. I’m watching the Columbus games and checking in on them, but I’m having fun here with the Cleveland guys.”Blue Jackets coach Pascal Vincent has made it clear he believes Johnson (6-1, 170) needs to get stronger to play and thrive in the NHL. Even before he was sent to Cleveland, the Blue Jackets had Johnson on a personalized regiment that included more gym time than most players.
That’s why Johnson’s dominating offensive totals with AHL Cleveland haven’t been enough to earn a recall. In nine games, he has four goals, 10 assists and a plus-4 rating, putting up points in seven of the nine games. In Friday’s win over Toronto, he scored the shootout game winner.

“We decided to send him down to regain his confidence,” Vincent said. “That’s what he’s building right now. But there’s a bigger aspect of this.

“It’s getting stronger physically, and it’s not his fault. He’s doing everything right. He’s just built that way, and now we’ve created (an off-ice) program for him to improve his ability to win those one-on-one battles. This is great that he’s scoring goals, but it’s more than points.”

Johnson pushes back on this a bit.

“I definitely want to get stronger … I agree with that,” Johnson said. “But I don’t feel like that’s the reason I’m here. I wouldn’t say I’m in agreement with that.

“I think I can help Columbus right now. I’m a confident guy. I feel like I was good last season, and I’m stronger this year than I was last year. With the body I have right now, I can still help in the NHL. I mean, I’m definitely not the weakest guy in the NHL.”

The Blue Jackets have not given Johnson an indication of when he might be recalled, he said. But the approach they’ve taken suggested it would be more than a few games. If Vincent is waiting for Johnson to get demonstrably stronger, it could take months.

Kekäläinen said Johnson won’t be on an NHL-AHL yo-yo.

“When he comes back he’s going to be here for good, so we’re going to give him the right amount of games to make sure we can keep him here for the rest of the year,” Kekäläinen said. “Obviously he’s going to have to earn the ice time just like everybody else, but I don’t want him going back and forth.

“I’m glad he’s having success and having consistency with it, as well. That’s what we were looking for.”

The Blue Jackets gave Johnson the option of sitting out a Nov. 3 game with Cleveland because he’d taken part in a full practice earlier in the day before driving 2 1/2 hours from Columbus. But he opted to play, putting up two assists in his AHL debut.

He had an assist the following night, too.

“It’s probably the worst my legs have ever felt,” Johnson said with a chuckle. “We played the next night, too, so I was battling my legs, big time. “You might not be the best at forechecking or backchecking when your legs feel like that, but there were plays to be made with the puck. On the power play, your legs don’t really matter.”

 

[tunnelvision]

I wonder why Jackets seem to be so much more concerned with young players' strength level than skating when deciding whether a player stays in Columbus or goes to AHL. It's almost like they entirely ignore skating deficiencies in players (Sillinger, Jiricek, Voronkov, KJ) and only look at their strength.

 

[stevo61]

I agree with Johnson to a point. I think the AHL is good for him but I also think Vincent and Jarmo just say generic talking points instead of fully manning up to how they feel. A guy like Johnson isnt going to gain a ton of weight and strength through the season in either league. He'll gain some but be honest about why hes really there and build a better relationship

I wonder why Jackets seem to be so much more concerned with young players' strength level than skating when deciding whether a player stays in Columbus or goes to AHL. It's almost like they entirely ignore skating deficiencies in players (Sillinger, Jiricek, Voronkov, KJ) and only look at their strength.

Im glad we signed Gaudreau and wasnt tasked with actually developing him

 

[MoeBartoli]

This team is screwing up KJ’s development. No surprise, the Jackets are masters at it.

Playing in the AHL might have been the right call but a call that should have been made last year. Instead they play him in the NHL all year where he ends up 5th in rookie scoring. No wonder he thought he was an established NHLer and surprised when sent down.

Theres more to development than just the physical, on ice stuff. There’s also the mental and relationship element, components where Jarmo consistently fails. Hopefully KJ hasn’t lost trust in the organization that comes back to do future damage.

 

[ThisIsMyAlibi]

JD and Jarmo are running the show. Nothing should surprise anyone. JD is a good old boy clown.

 

[EDM]

I think KJ is screwing up KJ's development. Where was he this summer? I heard nothing about him reporting early or hanging around the weight room at any time during the summer. He was told he needed to improve his strength but did not seem to give it a very high priority.

 

[Monstershockey]

They are doing fine. He is getting chances here to play center and not being overloaded with responsibility. KJ and Bemstrom switch off over during the course of the game, sometimes Johnson take the center responsibility, and when he isn't, he is on the wing. It is a more positive environment right now and the pressure isn't there.

 

[majormajor]

I think KJ is screwing up KJ's development. Where was he this summer? I heard nothing about him reporting early or hanging around the weight room at any time during the summer. He was told he needed to improve his strength but did not seem to give it a very high priority.

What you hear about a player reporting early or not is not a good barometer of what they did or how hard they worked. Consider that we only get instagram stories from a few players in the gym, but literally all of them are in the gym.

They've already said he's been training hard and it's not his fault that it's difficult to put muscle on his frame. We knew he had that body type when we drafted him.

 

[tunnelvision]

Theres more to development than just the physical, on ice stuff. There’s also the mental and relationship element, components where Jarmo consistently fails. Hopefully KJ hasn’t lost trust in the organization that comes back to do future damage.

Fingers crossed that Jarmo won't be allowed to do contract negotiations anymore.

 

[ColumbusTrill]

This team is screwing up KJ’s development. No surprise, the Jackets are masters at it.

Playing in the AHL might have been the right call but a call that should have been made last year. Instead they play him in the NHL all year where he ends up 5th in rookie scoring. No wonder he thought he was an established NHLer and surprised when sent down.

Theres more to development than just the physical, on ice stuff. There’s also the mental and relationship element, components where Jarmo consistently fails. Hopefully KJ hasn’t lost trust in the organization that comes back to do future damage.

he was also playing like ass to start this year. maybe the communication could have been better but he was not the same player he was last year. he's gaining confidence, playing c, and gaining strength now.

if what you wrote is true (bolded) then it sounds like he got a big head this season because his play this year compared to last isn't anywhere close

 

[Farmboy Patty]

I agree with Johnson to a point. I think the AHL is good for him but I also think Vincent and Jarmo just say generic talking points instead of fully manning up to how they feel. A guy like Johnson isnt going to gain a ton of weight and strength through the season in either league. He'll gain some but be honest about why hes really there and build a better relationship


Im glad we signed Gaudreau and wasnt tasked with actually developing him

As a hockey fan I am glad that the CBJ didn’t get to develop him.

 

[EDM]

Major, I can only go by what is reported. And even though Porty is handing around during the summer, and looking for things to write about, I did not see one mention of KJ hanging around the Arena for extra work.

Major, who said KJ was training hard?

 

[stevo61]

Major, I can only go by what is reported. And even though Porty is handing around during the summer, and looking for things to write about, I did not see one mention of KJ hanging around the Arena for extra work.

Major, who said KJ was training hard?

You can work out anywhere, its an easy thing to do. Being in town early is cool and all, maybe gives the illusion you are working harder but all it really means is you are in the public eye. The big thing they should have monitored was more his dietary plan if they didnt.

He could also be a slow starter and maybe thats an adjustment he'll need to make. Last year he played a lot of hockey going into the season so he hit the ground running

 

[EDM]

I think the point is whether he is working out under the supervision of the coaching and training staff that should be prearing a training plan for him

 

[Monk]

I think the point is whether he is working out under the supervision of the coaching and training staff that should be prearing a training plan for him

If tiktok/youtube/instagram/etc are any indication, it's extremely easy to collaborate on or supervise workouts remotely.

 

[EDM]

Ok, fine let one person produced any evidence that KJ over the summer was working out remotely with an internet connection to the Jackets trainers....... Really you defenders of KJ are ridiculous. Yes he is a good young player. But maybe he is unduly over impressed with himself.

 

[Monk]

Ok, fine let one person produced any evidence that KJ over the summer was working out remotely with an internet connection to the Jackets trainers....... Really you defenders of KJ are ridiculous. Yes he is a good young player. But maybe he is unduly over impressed with himself.

That's not the point - the point is that anyone can be in a structured, supervised fitness program from anywhere in the world with the technology we have today.

Location is irrelevant (just like others have said).

 

[squashmaple]

Ok, fine let one person produced any evidence that KJ over the summer was working out remotely with an internet connection to the Jackets trainers....... Really you defenders of KJ are ridiculous. Yes he is a good young player. But maybe he is unduly over impressed with himself.

It's equally ridiculous to assume the worst case scenario when you have no more information available than anyone else.

 

[majormajor]

Ok, fine let one person produced any evidence that KJ over the summer was working out remotely with an internet connection to the Jackets trainers....... Really you defenders of KJ are ridiculous. Yes he is a good young player. But maybe he is unduly over impressed with himself.

It's not a defense of KJ.

I'm saying the idea that you can assess his training regimen without even seeing it is bullshit.

 

[Marioesque]

It's equally ridiculous to assume the worst case scenario when you have no more information available than anyone else.

Thanks for pointing that out, was about to ask for the evidence of this "too high on himself" thing too

 

[majormajor]

Thanks for pointing that out, was about to ask for the evidence of this "too high on himself" thing too

KJ thought he was a solid NHLer that shouldn't have been sent down.

I'm not worried about his comments though, he scored 40 pts in the NHL last year and expected to take a step beyond that this year. Any player would be disappointed and surprised if they went from that to this.

Jiricek thinking he's too good for the AHL (possibly encouraged by Jarmo) is more of a problem, because he's got further to go.

 

[CBJx614]

Ok, fine let one person produced any evidence that KJ over the summer was working out remotely with an internet connection to the Jackets trainers....... Really you defenders of KJ are ridiculous. Yes he is a good young player. But maybe he is unduly over impressed with himself.

Yeah, let one person find confidential information that teams keep locked up for no one outside of the organization. smh. It's 2023 dude, I can live stream just about anything from anywhere, you don't think they keep tabs on what their players are doing over the summer? I know people don't think the highest of the CBJ org but they aren't THAT incompetent.




He's a 21 year old kid whose extremely active with a sky high metabolism. Some people, no matter what they do can't put on weight.

Hell I'm 32 and haven't been active like I used to be in my glory days, never really got into working out or staying super active... I eat like absolute shit and STILL have a hard time putting on weight.

Thanks for pointing that out, was about to ask for the evidence of this "too high on himself" thing too

I'd rather he thinks too positively on himself rather than looks down on himself like Elvis can from time to time.

 

[EDM]

Major, the idea that you can assess the adequacy of his training methods without even seeing it is bullshit.

 

[majormajor]

Major, the idea that you can assess the adequacy of his training methods without even seeing it is bullshit.

My point exactly.

 

[cslebn]

Hell I'm 32 and haven't been active like I used to be in my glory days, never really got into working out or staying super active... I eat like absolute shit and STILL have a hard time putting on weight

From those of us that have to work to lose or keep weight off if we eat like shit.... we don't like you. Or are jealous.