UPDATED:
It’s official: the Avalanche announced Saturday that they have acquired goalie Jonas Johansson from the Buffalo Sabres for a sixth-round pick in the 2021 NHL draft.
Desperate for a goalie to back up Philipp Grubauer, the Avalanche didn’t give up much for a guy who has been an AHL all-star but has put up some pretty bad numbers in the NHL.
Adam Werner was the backup Saturday in the Avalanche's 6-0 win against the Minnesota Wild at Ball Arena after Hunter Miska was assigned to the Eagles. Johansson could make his Colorado debut on Tuesday in the second game of the back-to-back set with the Arizona Coyotes.
"We’ll look at him here first and make a decision on what our plan is for him," coach Jared Bednar said. "From all the things that we’ve heard our guys have scouted him and seen him play mostly in the American League in years past. He’s been on a steady progression getting better and on a good development path.
'He’s a big goalie, started in the ECHL, worked his way to the American League, had one outstanding year, I think it was ’18-19 with Rochester, found ways to win hockey games, had real good numbers, and he was kind of rushed into the NHL this year due to some injuries.
"He’s played some games up there this year and they’ve had some trouble. We’re looking forward into getting him in the fold. We’ll get him in here and see what he can do, get him into a couple practices."
Johansson, 25, is 0-5-1 this season with the awful Sabres, who have lost 13 games in a row (0-11-2) and this week fired coach Ralph Krueger. Johansson has a 3.79 goals-against average and .884 save percentage. He went 1-3-1 last season with a 2.94 GAA and .894 save percentage.
A native of Gavle, Sweden, the 6-foot-5, 220-pound Johansson was Buffalo’s third-round pick (No. 61) in the 2014 draft.
"I don’t know too much about him, he’s a few years younger than me," captain Gabriel Landeskog said. "He’s a fellow Swede so he must be a great guy. Hopefully he can contribute to our team and really help us out, so we’re excited to have him."
He made his NHL debut against the Avalanche on Feb. 4, 2020, making 13 saves in relief of Carter Hutton in the second period.
Johansson played parts of four seasons with the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League, posting a 25-11-4 record, 2.63 GAA and .908 save percentage in 41 games. He was named to the AHL All-Star Game in 2019-20 and went 14-4-3 with a 2.28 GAA and .921 save percentage.
Johansson spent two seasons with the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL and went 32-16-4 with a 2.86 GAA and.909 save percentage in 54 games.