Will Devils' Marcus Johansson return this season?

NEWARK – The Devils have two games left to go this season and possibly a few more. If you were expecting to see forward Marcus Johansson in one of the two, you may be disappointed.

Johansson has now missed more than 30 games this season and hasn’t played since January because of a concussion brought on by a hit from Boston’s Brad Marchand. It was his second concussion of the season and while on paper he might seem healthy, in reality he’s not where he needs to be just yet.

And when it comes to concussions, the reality can change daily.

“It’s hard to get into the detail of it,” Johansson said. “I want to get back to feeling 100 percent and be confident that I’m fine. It’s getting close.”

But the playoffs are getting close too. And no matter how close he feels he is to getting back into a game, he’s not going to push himself to return too soon.

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“The most important thing is to be 100 percent, it doesn’t matter if it’s the playoffs or not,” Johansson said. “It’s a tough situation but it is what it is and we’re doing everything we can to get back to normal and get back to playing, but I’m not going to force something to get a game in, before the playoffs or not.”

Johansson finds it difficult to watch from the pressbox because he so badly wants to play. But more than he wants to play, he wants to be healthy enough to play. There’s no doubt that he would bring speed and defense to the Devils’ 5-on-5 and power play systems but if he’s not handling contact, he wouldn’t be effective.

And more importantly, the future health risks are too great.

So, Johansson will continue to skate and practice but he won’t be getting into a game just yet. He may get into a postseason game, should the Devils make the postseason, but only once he and the medical staff feel that he is 100 percent able to handle contact.

“For him, it’s getting himself back and practicing and being around the team every day seeing how he responds,” coach John Hynes said. “He’s not ready yet to get into a game, so we’ll just continue to push him forward in practice until he continues to feel good and get reacclimated with the team.

“At this point, with him and the injury that he had it really has to come down to the player’s comfort level.”