The Toronto Maple Leafs have traded left winger Andreas Johnsson to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for 22-year-old right winger Joey Anderson.

Johnsson for Anderson is a one-for-one swap, so the Leafs clear the full $3.4 million in cap space originally owed to Johnsson this season. Anderson is currently an RFA fresh off his ELC. He was a third round pick in 2016, taken two picks before Josh Anderson, and between two players in the Leafs system: James Greenway and Hudson Elynuik. Anderson also played with Auston Matthews and Joseph Woll at the US National Team Development Program.

Anderson had 15 goals and 34 points on 118 shots in 44 games in the AHL last season. He played 34 NHL games in 2018-19 and 18 games last season, scoring four goals in each year.

Looking at his game, Anderson is another player who was touted as good defensive player who wins puck battles in the dirty areas and goes hard to the net.

You can read about Anderson’s career path to date in this great breakdown at All About The Jersey, our sister site.

“Anderson would really excel for Binghamton in 2019-20, his age 21 season. His 15 goals and 19 assists in 44 games put him in 4th place on the team in scoring. However, according to Pick 224 (not counting Janne Kuokkanen’s brief time with the team), Anderson was 2nd in Points Per Game (0.77), 2nd in EV Primary Points Per Game (0.41), and 1st in Primary Points Per Estimated 60 Minutes (2.10). According to Elite Prospects, his 0.77 Points Per Game ranked 12th among all U22 players in the AHL (minimum 35+ GP) last season. He was .09 behind Janne Kuokkanen who finished in 6th place on that list.”

They write that in his time at the end of the season while he was in the NHL, he provided a real case for a bottom-six NHL job. That said, this is on the Devils, but it should also be said that the Leafs bottom-six isn’t much better.

Here is some video of him. Keep in mind one is an AHL game and the other is NHL preseason.