Andreas Johnsson made a surprising choice last July when he accepted his qualifying offer from the Maple Leafs, a one-year, two-way deal worth $787,500.



Johnsson seemed to have built up enough steam to push for something longer and larger. He had destroyed the AHL playoffs a month earlier and showed well in a brief stint with the Leafs before that.



“I want to bet on myself,” he said of the contract later that fall. “Two years ago, I wouldn’t sign a one-year deal, but after this year I feel like, why not?”



The bet paid off. Johnsson meshed with Auston Matthews, scored 20 goals, and was, remarkably for a seventh-round pick, among the most productive players in the league after a sluggish start to the season.



And he did it all as a rookie.



“I didn’t know what to expect from the beginning, but obviously to take a spot on the roster was my first mission,” Johnsson said last month. “It was hard...