Devils ship Johansson to Bruins where he’ll team up with nemesis

The disappointing Devils continued to look toward the future, and created a bit of an awkward situation in the process.

General manager Ray Shero traded forward Marcus Johansson, an unrestricted free-agent-to-be, to the Bruins just before Monday’s 3 p.m. NHL trade deadline, bringing back a second-round pick in the 2019 draft and a fourth-round pick in 2020. The Devils retained 40 percent of Johansson’s salary to make the deal work under Boston’s salary-cap crunch.

So now Johansson is teammates with Brad Marchand, who nailed him with a dirty elbow to the head in January 2018, giving Johansson a concussion that would force him to miss 28 games and earning Marchand a tepid five-game suspension.

Johansson was furious with Marchand after the incident, saying, in part, “It’s sad to see that there are still guys out there trying to hurt other guys.” When Johansson spoke to Bruins GM Don Sweeney on Monday, he reportedly brought it up and said, “I’d much rather play with Marchand than against him.”

Shero also traded backup goalie and Long Island native Keith Kinkaid to the Blue Jackets in exchange for a fifth-round pick in 2022. The 29-year-old Kinkaid also was set to be an unrestricted free agent, struggling this season to regain the form he had shown down the stretch last season while Cory Schneider recovered from injury.