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Tyler Johnson began his career with the Tampa Bay Lightning like he had been shot out of a cannon. After getting into 14 games at the NHL level in 2012-13, the 5-foot-8 forward erupted for 24 goals and 50 points in 82 contests a season later. He followed that up with a 29 goal, 72-point season in 2014-15, tying Steven Stamkos for the team lead in points and finishing 14th overall in the NHL.

Things didn’t go quite as swimmingly for Johnson a year ago. Injuries limited him to just 69 games of action, and he set new career lows in points, goals, assists and shooting percentage. He played through a fractured wrist during the Stanley Cup Final in 2015 and was in and out of the lineup due to various issues last season.

There’s reason to believe that 2015-16 will prove to be the exception and not the rule for Johnson’s career, however. He’s primed for a bounceback season with the Lightning.

Fans in Tampa Bay are all too familiar with how a wrist injury can hold a player back–especially when it comes to effectively getting pucks on net and making crisp passes. Former team captain Vincent Lecavalier underwent wrist surgery back in 2009 and the ailment affected him the same way it impacted Johnson in 2015.

Just watching him play, it was clear that the wrist was still bothering him. The snap seemed to be missing from Johnson’s shot, and his scoring ability took a big hit as a result. He wasn’t able to settle into a groove until March, In fact, he scored more than half of his 38 points last season in the months of February and March.

The real Johnson stood up during Tampa Bay’s playoff run as well, taking over the Lightning’s No. 1 center role with Stamkos recovering from a blood clot. Pressure didn’t get to the forward, as he posted 17 points (including three game-winning goals) during the Lightning’s run to the Eastern Conference Final. While the team came up short against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 7, it was evident that Johnson had returned to form.

Looking back at his counting stats from a year ago, it’d be easy to lazily write Johnson off as a 40-50 point player instead of a guy who can potentially push into the 80’s. He’ll prove that isn’t the case in 2016-17, though. We saw what a healthy Johnson was capable of during the playoffs.

His line was the focus of the opposition’s top defensive players, and they were still able to thrive as a unit. Johnson was dangerous with the puck again and we started to see the touch that had been missing since the 2015 Stanley Cup Final. Injuries happen and sometimes players have off years. That’s what 2015-16 was for Johnson. An off year that will be easily overlooked as his career rolls on.

The Lightning have Stanley Cup aspirations this season and this will likely be the final time this particular core will get a crack at winning the whole thing. General manager Steve Yzerman committed a lot of money to Stamkos, Victor Hedman and Alex Killorn this summer. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy saw a nice pay raise too, and 23-year-old Nikita Kucherov remains a restricted free agent as training camps loom.

Johnson is in the final year of a deal that pays him $3,333,333 annually, and he’ll be coming off the books at the same time as Ondrej Palat and Jonathan Drouin. This sets up some incredibly difficult choices for Yzerman, and Johnson isn’t going to make things any easier on the general manager with a bounceback campaign.

That’s what the forward is set up for, though. Drouin looked like a real player during the postseason and Stamkos decided not to take his talents elsewhere as a free agent. Once Kucherov is under contract, the Lightning will be able to roll out one of the most dynamic attacking units in the NHL. Johnson will be an important part of any success that the team will have in 2016-17, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him crack the league’s top 25 scorers once again this season.

Even if he can’t make that happen, Johnson is more than capable of producing 20-plus goals and 60-plus points if he remains healthy. The wrist doesn’t appear to be a problem anymore, so barring any further setbacks, the Lightning will have one of their most dangerous offensive forwards ready to roll this season.

Tyler Johnson poised for bounceback campaign with Lightning