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That didn’t happen.

“You can’t take any shifts off,” Johnsson said. “That’s the difference, is the skill level.

“You get 10 games and playoffs last season (with the Leafs, as Johnsson did), but that’s more of a rush. You live in a bubble for one month and now you have to do it through a whole season and figure it out. There were adjustments.”

Johnson will be a restricted free agent next summer, and though he acknowledged he thinks about his next contract from time to time, it’s not consuming him.

“It pops up a little here and there but it’s not really affecting my play,” Johnsson said. “It’s okay to talk about it, but it’s not like I go around and think I need to do this and this to get this. It’s unnecessary thinking.”

LOOSE LEAFS

General manager Kyle Dubas reportedly is scouting in Russia this week with a possible eye on CSKA Moscow centre Sergei Andronov, who has 11 points in 39 games in the KHL. The 29-year-old Andronov was drafted by the St. Louis Blues in the third round of the 2009 NHL draft and played in the American Hockey League from 2012-14 before returning home … With the Leafs taking a full day off on Tuesday, the club returned winger Trevor Moore and goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo to the Marlies. Babcock indicated on Monday night that winger Zach Hyman, who has missed the past eight games with a sprained ankle, will be cleared to play in New Jersey against the Devils on Thursday, and the same could be true of No. 1 goaltender Frederik Andersen, who has missed the past six games with a groin injury. We’ll have a clearer idea at practice on Wednesday … Since scoring two goals on the road against the Los Angeles Kings on Nov. 13, Nazem Kadri has two goals in his past 24 games. Kadri has 99 shots on goal, and only two Leafs forwards — John Tavares with 157 and Marner with 119 — have more … Patrick Marleau has gone six games without a point, his longest dry spell of the season … Connor Brown scored in back-to-back games early in November and has nothing since, his no-goal streak now at 26 games … With the blanking at the hands of the Predators, the Leafs were shut out for the second time in four games and for the third time this season. In 2017-18, they were shut out just twice. The 18 shots on goal the Leafs had versus Nashville tied for the third-fewest they have had in a game since Babcock took over in 2015.

tkoshan@postmedia.com

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