Lucas Johansen

June 2024 – Johansen will become a group 6 UFA when July 1st occurs. He will likely not be back on Washington where he has never really been given a legit chance, whether it was due to coaching, contracts or injuries. This season he was mainly the 7/8 defenseman playing in just six NHL games. He played in 22 AHL games and was injured again. In the playoffs, Johansen was playing quite well but was hurt again. If a team can give him a legit shot Johansen could likely become a 4-6 defenseman, but it is more likely he stays an NHL/AHL tweener or plays overseas where he will likely be more appreciated. Pat Quinn

October 2023 – Johansen made the Capitals, which is great for him as he has worked a long time to make the team. No injuries not in his way this time either. Unfortunately for Johansen, he has played in the two losses for Washington, where the team looked brutal and disjointed throughout. He was fine in the Pittsburgh game, but against Ottawa the forecheck he looked overwhelmed. The Capitals have quite a bit of defensemen on the roster, so he really needs to grab the system and secure his spot soon before he is stuck in the press box or waived again. Pat Quinn

August 2023 – Johansen finished the season with seven points in 40 games but he was not used in an offense capacity. He managed to play in all 20 of Hershey’s Calder Cup games as he was an important part of the championship squad. Unfortunately for him, there really is no room on the NHL roster once the Capitals traded for Edmundson. He will likely be the first call up once injuries hit, but considering he is waivers eligible he may get lost once he is on waivers. With so many teams capped out though, Johansen may be stuck in Hershey again as he continues to wait for a legitimate chance. Pat Quinn

February 2023 – Johansen has not been very productive in the AHL this season with just three points in 21 games. Thankfully, a majority of games missed this season were not because of injury, though he did miss a bit of time in January due to injury. His entire December was an up and down bus ride between the AHL and NHL, and had the occasional bus ride in November as well. He got in two NHL games but only played around 12 minutes. Johansen is signed for next season too and it is unknown if he will be trade bait at the deadline, off-season, or given a legit chance to make the roster next season. Pat Quinn

October 2022 – Johansen was placed on waivers as the Capitals hope to keep him in the system but know there is no room on defense at the NHL level. Pat Quinn

September 2022 – After two and a half injury plagued seasons that saw Johansen fall out of favor with the Capitals and both sides agreeing a split would be the best option, Johansen bounced back finishing second on the Bears’ defense in points and signing a new deal in the off season. That deal is a typical two-year deal the Capitals have been signing lately, with the first year two-way and the second one-way. All but John Carlson is a UFA or RFA on defense for the Capitals in 2023-24 meaning that the door is wide open for Johansen if he can stay healthy in the AHL. Pat Quinn

January 2022 – Talk about a bounce back season, Johansen has been healthy and looking better this season. His offense has come back slowly this season with just eight points in 24 games. However, Johansen was called up by the Capitals in December, got in some practices, and even played in a game where he managed an assist in 12 minutes of ice time. This is what he needed to get back on the map in terms of possibly becoming a full-time NHL player. Pat Quinn

May 2021 – Johansen was often scratched by the Bears then he got in the line up as injuries hit, and five games later a suspendable elbow took him out of action on February 20 to which he never returned to action. Johansen cannot catch a break in his career with injuries since 2018-2019, and it is really hampering his long term outlook. Pat Quinn

March 2020 – Johansen never came back and the AHL season has now been paused. I do not know why the injury bug hates him so much and the Bears/Capitals have been really quite about what the injury is. There was a solid #3-#5 two-way defenseman here, now he had only played nine games for the 2019-2020 and was not a regular in the line up to start the season. Perhaps a fresh start on a new team will improve his luck as he will likely have little to no shot of making the Capitals in the future.  Pat Quinn

January 2020 – Johansen came back at the tail end of December, got in two January games, and then was injured and is still out for the foreseeable future. I feel like I jinxed him so hopefully he can come back ASAP. Pat Quinn

November 2019 – Johansen is again out with injury, and has been since the end of October. He is slated to come back in late December so let us hope he can finally stay healthy. Pat Quinn

September 2019 – Johansen has been sent back down to Hershey in the final few days of training camp. His training camp was fine as he never really stood out or looked bad, but that is his game. He will now go back down to the AHL where he hopes to have a fully healthy season and show the Capitals why they selected him in the first round. The only thing stopping Johansen from becoming an NHL defenseman is the rash of injuries, so hopefully the injury bug has left Hershey alone for a season or two. Pat Quinn

July 2019 – Flat out Johansen had a poor year. A Large portion of that was due to the injury that kept him out for a couple of months, but at the tail end of his remaining games played he was looking like his old self. With there being no room on the Capitals roster, Johansen needs to play a healthy season on an improved Bears squad and prove he is too good for the AHL. He is close to the cusp of an NHL/AHL tweener but still has the upside of being a mid-pair defenseman in the NHL. Pat Quinn

March 2019 – Johansen returned to the Bears in the first week of February after missing two and quarter months with an upper body injury. Before the injury Johansen had nine points in 17 games and once back he has put up only three points in the last 18 games. He is getting back up to speed in the AHL on a healthy Bears defense as the team keeps piling on the wins. Pat Quinn

December 2018 – Johansen played well to start the year and then was hit with the injury bug that has decimated the Bears’ defense. He is currently out long-term after sustaining an upper-body injury in late November. Pat Quinn

September 2018 – After a great first AHL season Johansen will look to build on his previous season in the AHL. There is no room on the Capitals currently but Johansen could be a call up if injuries occur. As of right now he will be a top two defenseman on the Bears and will continue to develop. Pat Quinn

May 2018 – Johansen was the best of the Bears young defensemen for the 2017-18 season. The Bears were not a great team last season and rarely could score, to say Johansen was the best is more to say he was pretty good for a rookie in his first year.  In his first AHL season Johansen had 27 points in 74 games and was routinely featured on the team top powerplay. Johansen looks to pass more often then shoot and I do not figure him to be a first powerplay quarterback in the future, but instead more a top four two-way defenseman who can play on the second powerplay. Pat Quinn

December 2017 – Johansen has been playing extremely well for a Bears team hat is struggling to score as of late. He is leading the defense is points with 14, which is good for a tie for fourth on the Bears overall. One problem for Johansen is that for a player trusted with powerplay one opportunites he does shoot enough, as he has just 35 shots in 27 games. In those 35 shots he does have five goals, so he seems to be mirroring Djoos’ final AHL season (picking his spots over just blindly shooting), but I would still prefer that he shoots more. As of now Johansen is exceeding expectations for the Capitals and could be up in the NHL as early as the 2018-2019 season. Pat Quinn

July 2017 – Johansen had a mediocre year in terms of fantasy production last season but that was in large part due to the Kelowna Rockets team spreading the ice time out to more players, notably Cal Foote. He still managed to produce a similar number of points while putting up better defensive numbers overall. Barring no UFA moves on the back end Johansen will still likely spend this season in the AHL receiving top four ice time in a lot tougher of a league to grow his game as that is usually how the Capitals progress its prospects. Look for Johansen to be a steady mid-pairing defenseman who can tansition he game well but is likely not never wow in the points department. Pat Quinn

December 2016 – Johansen has seen his points for the Kelowna Rockets on defense off to a slow start this seasn. Currently he has 12 points in 30 games, a 0.4 points per game, compared 0.71 ppg for his draft year (2015-2016). That is concerning but most scouts were bullish on his offense explosion but were all still high on his strong two-way play, that has not dropped off at all. Nine of his 12 points are from the powerplay, so he is still playing the #1 powerplay, but his even strength scoring is way down which could be associated with unlucky on-ice shooting percentages. He was drafted as a strong two-way defender, and that is still there, but if the offense continues to grow on last years pace that would be an added bonus. Pat Quinn

June 2016 – The two-way defender has to add some muscle, but Ryan Johansen’s younger brother is the latest high-end talent from the blueliner factory known as the Kelowna Rockets. Mark Allan

March 2016 – Lucas Johansen is a smooth skating cerebral defenseman, with an accurate shot from the point, who plays a solid all around game. Fluid is stride, Johansen can get to open pucks and find seams through fore-checkers as he transitions the puck up ice with ease. Not overly physical, Johansen plays a steady positional defense and keeps and active stick to break up passes of attackers. Though his calling card is with the puck on his stick, he isn’t a one dimensional offensive defenseman as he uses good hockey sense to read plays both ways. Johansen still requires work on his defensive reads as he can be caught trying to be too fancy rather than make the simple play. – Aynsley Scott