The province has a trio of talented spinners in Nathan McCullum, Nick Beard and Mark Craig. But the seaming ranks have thinned.
Strike bowler Neil Wagner is expected to be heavily involved with the national side, while veterans Warren McSkimming and James McMillan are in the twilight of their careers.
McSkimming has work commitments and will not be available until Christmas, and the 34-year-old McMillan has had a terrible run with injuries over the years and his workload will have to be carefully managed.
Fringe left-armer Craig Smith is still recovering from an injury and is overseas, anyway.
That leaves all-rounders Jimmy Neesham and Sam Wells, right-armer Ian Butler and promising youngster Jacob Duffy, who is expected to be offered Otago's final contract spot, to carry the load.
"There is obviously a weakness with our bowling," Johnson said.
"We are aware of that but we are pretty keen to give some local players an opportunity.
"Our overall philosophy in terms of contracting players was to try and look after the local players as much as we can."
That is not to say Otago did not approach some players to lure them south, because it did. But with no-one putting their hand up to make the move, there will be opportunities for others.
Left-armer Blair Soper has been part of Otago's development squad for the past few years and right-armer Sam Blakely is another who could press his claims with a positive start to the summer.
The likes of Jack Hunter and Marcus Frost are probably a few years away, but Duffy has demonstrated that age is no barrier. The 17-year-old was one of the youngest to play for the province when he made his debut in a twenty/20 game against Northern Districts in January.
Former test opener Aaron Redmond had a dreadful season and was dropped from all three formats. He has been contracted again and Otago needs the right-hander to rediscover his touch.
The only upside to Redmond's lean trot was it provided an opportunity for opener Hamish Rutherford to revive his flagging first-class career. The left-hander scored more than 600 runs in a month, including back-to-back hundreds and a double ton.
"Aaron had a horrific season, really . . . but we still see him as a huge part of our team going forward simply because of his history. He has played for New Zealand and performed at all three levels of the game and just had one of those season that no-one wants to have," Johnson said.
• Sam Wells' name was omitted from the list of Otago contracted players published in Monday's Otago Daily Times.
