Brent Johnson: 2024 Annual Review And Forecast


Photo: Ohio State University

We continue our Washington Capitals annual prospect review and forecast series with Brent Johnson, defenseman for Ohio State University. (You can access all of our Capitals Prospect Reports and player analysis on our “Prospects” page in the top menu or right here.)

VITALS

Johnson, 21, is a 5’-11”, right-handed defenseman from Frisco, Texas. The Capitals chose Johnson with the 80th pick overall on the second day of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. The Capitals traded down from #75 to #80 in a deal with the New York Rangers that also gave the Capitals the Rangers 176th overall pick in the deal. After playing two seasons with North Dakota, Johnson transferred to Ohio State in April with two years of collegiate eligibility remaining. He remains unsigned by the Capitals.

CAREER SUMMARY

For the 2020-21 season, Johnson played for the Sioux Falls Stampede. He appeared in 47 games, scoring 11 goals and recording 21 assists for 32 points and led all defensemen on the team in goals, assists, and points. His point total helped him break the team’s rookie record for points by a defenseman. Johnson worked his way up projected draft boards but his season ended in April due to a shoulder injury. He was named to both the All-Rookie Team and the All-USHL Second Team.

For the 2021-22 season, Johnson became the first player from Texas to sign up with the University of North Dakota program. He was a regular healthy scratch during the first half of the season, his freshman year, but slowly began to find playing time as the calendar turned to 2022.

The 2022-23 season was a step backward in Johnson’s development, as he played in just 13 games, most of those games in the first two months of the season. According to Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald, Johnson needed to improve the defensive side of his game and become more reliable to increase his ice time.

As a result of the reduction in playing time, Johnson entered the NCAA transfer portal on March 20 and ultimately transferred to Ohio State. [More here]

During the 2023-24 season, Johnson played in 37 games, a vast improvement over the previous season. He scored five goals and recorded 8 assists for 13 points. He made 50 shots on goal and blocked 64 shots. He also took four minor penalties for eight PIM. He generally was the right defenseman on the third pairing.

2023-2024 MONTH-BY-MONTH RECAP AND TREND ANALYSIS

The following is a compilation of our month-by-month prospect reports for Brent Johnson during the 2023-2024 season. All monthly prospect reports can be accessed from our “Prospects” page in the top menu.

October

Johnson was the star of the game for the Buckeyes in their second game of the season – a 4-2 win against the Lindenwood Lions on October 13. He assisted on the team’s first goal early in the first period and scored the game-winning goal on a power play about midway into the second period.

Johnson scored another goal in October, which came in a 4-0 win against University of Nebraska Omaha (and Joaquim Lemay).  His goal came after five minutes in the third period, putting the team up 3-0.

For October, Johnson scored two goals and recorded one assist. He took two penalties for four penalty minutes in all. He had three games where he had at least four shots on goal and would often have more shot attempts.

November

Johnson scored his third goal of the season in a 6-4 loss to Michigan State on November 4. He opened the scoring just 11 seconds into the game with a perfectly placed wrist shot from the point, going blocker side on Michigan State goaltender Trey Augustine. This put the Buckeyes up 1-0. Unfortunately, Michigan State scored three unanswered goals, one late in the first period and the others in the second period, and ultimately prevailed.

Johnson scored again on November 24 in a 6-3 win against the Princeton Tigers. Johnson scored his goal just over 12 minutes into the second period. This put the Buckeyes ahead 3-2. In that game, Johnson had five shots on goal.

The next day, Johnson assisted on Ohio State’s first goal which was scored just under two minutes into the first period. He put the puck on Guzzo’s tape for an easy tap-in.

Johnson’s totals for November were 2 goals and 1 assist. At the end of the month, he ranked third on the team with six points, four goals, and two assists.

December

December was a quieter month on offense for Johnson. He had the secondary assist on the team’s last goal in a 5-4 loss to the Minnesota Golden Gophers (and Ryan Chesley) on December 8. This goal came at 15:14 in the third period.

Johnson’s totals for December were no goals and one assist. He had plenty of shot attempts during games in December.

January

Johnson did not appear on the scoresheet in Ohio State’s first four games of the month.  On January 19, in a 5-2 loss against the Minnesota Golden Gophers, he recorded a secondary assist on the team’s second goal on a power play. On the negative side of the ledger, he could not block an opponent’s cross-ice shot which was ultimately resulted in an opposing goal. He was also -2 for the game.

Johnson recorded assists in each game against Penn State on the weekend of January 26 and 27. Both games were 4-3 losses. In the game on January 26, he had the secondary on the team’s third and last goal midway through the third period. He was also on the ice for all four opposing goals that day.

On January 27, Johnson had the primary assist on the team’s first goal, which came a little over 12 minutes into the second period after the team had already fallen behind 3-0. He also had four blocked shots that day.

For the January, Johnson had no goals but recorded three assists.

February

Johnson played in all six games that Ohio State played in February. He scored no goals and recorded no assists in those six games. He did not take any penalties either.

In his most recent games, he blocked 5 shots during their 6-2 win against the Michigan State Spartans on February 13 and blocked 2 shots in a 5-2 loss to Michigan State.

March

Johnson played in just one of the two games in the series against Penn State on March 1 and 2, missing the second game. Ohio State dropped both those games, a 5-1 loss on March 1 and a 2-1 loss on March 2

Ohio State went on to play the Wisconsin Badgers in the Preliminary Round of the Big 10 Tournament, a best-of-three series, beginning on March 8. They won the first game 3-1 on March 8, lost the second game 4-2 on March 9, and won the rubber game 3-1 so that they advanced to the Big 10 Semifinals.

Johnson was the hero in the first game on March 8. He scored the team’s first goal at 9:08 in the first period. He took a pass from teammate Riley Hughes and beat the goalie far side from inside the faceoff circle. Dalton Messina had the other assist.

He also had the primary assist on the game-winning goal which came on a power play at 2:21 into the third period.

Ohio State played Michigan State in the Big 10 Semifinals where they lost 2-1 to Michigan State and were eliminated from the postseason. Johnson did not have any goals or assists in that game. He made one shot on goal and blocked three shots.

For March, including regular season and playoff games, he scored one goal and had two assists.

Summary

Johnson’s statistics for the season are 5 goals and 8 assists for 13 points in 37 games. He made 50 shots on goal and blocked 64 shots. He also took four minor penalties for eight PIM. His role was usually the right defenseman on the third pairing. He held a regular role, unlike last season with the University of North Dakota where he hardly played at all since December. He showed more offense during the early part of the season than later on, but in the postseason, assisted on a game-winning goal and scored one goal of his own. n.

PLAYER FORECAST

Johnson should return to Ohio State for his senior year and grow in his role as a defenseman for them. Last season, he had a regular role for Ohio State which he did not have at the University of North Dakota during his sophomore season.

By Diane Doyle

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