How Much Do the Kings Miss Jack Johnson?

If you would only listen, you might just realize what you're missing. You're missing me.
- Jack Johnson, Bubble Toes

February 23rd, the L.A. Kings traded Jack Johnson and what turned out to be their 2012 first-round pick for Jeff Carter. While most of us in the analytical community thought it was a steal, some thought Johnson would be a lot to lose. Let's take a look at how things have changed since he left.

Defensemen WOWY

Johnson split his time pretty evenly between Matt Greene, Rob Scuderi and Willie Mitchell. Here are the on-ice Corsi rates and percentages for each of these defensemen with and without Johnson:

Corsi Rate	With JJ	Without JJ
Greene	-0.598	14.786
Scuderi	-7.26	8.194
Mitchell	-6.927	10.883

Corsi %	With JJ	Without JJ
Greene	49.7%	57.2%
Scuderi	46.7%	53.9%
Mitchell	46.9%	54.8%

I was expecting an increase, but wow(ee)! Johnson's time being split evenly between those three guys makes this even more damning. The strong pattern with all three defensemen effectively eliminates other explanations like zone starts, playing with better forwards or his partner switching to Doughty. Jack Johnson was dragging his teammates down, pure and simple.

Before/After

Let's now look at how the centers and defensemen he didn't play as much with have fared before and after the trade.

Corsi Rate	Before Trade	After Trade
Doughty	10.865	7.925
Martinez	21.691	24.28
Voynov	11.638	17.567
-------------	-------------	-------------
Kopitar	14.957	24.063
Stoll	6.713	11.484
Richards	-6.524	8.789
None of Above	7.539	8.077

Some of these numbers, especially Richards's, have a lot to do with Jeff Carter's play and how he has impacted the team indirectly - by taking tougher minutes and just shifting around the forward slots. No matter what, it's pretty clear that the Kings are doing quite well without Jack Johnson, thank you very much.

Conclusion

Since the deadline, the Kings have been one of the best teams in the NHL. Some of the improvement is what Carter has brought to the table and part of it is everything clicking and everyone playing well. A big reason, perhaps the most important, for their success since the deadline is no longer icing Jack Johnson 23 minutes a game. The Kings miss Jack Johnson as a teenager misses his virginity.