More often than not, young blueliners struggle in the NHL in their second season. Often called the “sophomore slump” it’s the time in which other teams have enough video to understand your weaknesses — and expose them.
Could this year have been Stephen Johns’ sophomore slump?
After all, he played so strongly at the end of last season that he came up and earned a top six role immediately as an every night contributor. He earned his playing time over Patrik Nemeth and Jamie Oleksiak, both of whom had spent the entire season at the NHL level fighting for ice time.