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Johnson: Good Guy Gone Too Soon |
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You cover a team for 28 years, you see a lot of players pass through the dressing room. Some you remember for their competitiveness. Others for their leadership or talents. Mostly, though, the ones that linger for a long time in your memory are the ones who were solid citizens, decent, down-to-earth sorts.
Greg Johnson fell into this latter category. He was a good enough hockey player to suit up for 85 NHL games over 12 seasons and score 145 goals. But most of all, Johnson was a good guy.
Johnson died Monday at the age of 48. No cause of death was reported.
Johnson’s NHL days began with the Red Wings in 1993, and he quickly gave an indication of his character. During the 1993-94 season, he left the Wings to join Canada in time for the Winter Olympic Games, helping the Canadians win a silver medal.
By volunteering to join the Canadian squad, Johnson’s two-way NHL deal switched to a minor-league pact. His decision to live out the Olympic dream cost him $40,000 in salary.
It also cost him some blood. Johnson became a cult hero in his homeland in Canada’s quarter-final against the Czech Republic. Johnson took a slap shot in the nose during overtime, but remained on the bench while his now-broken nose was stitched up.
“The idea was that if they stitched me up on the bench, I could go right back out for my next shift,” Johnson recalled at the time, “but just as they finished, we scored.
“So the trainer looks at me and says, ‘Good, the game's over. Now we can take those stitches out and put them in right.’”
Johnson played just one game in the 1995 playoffs for the Wings as Detroit reached the Stanley Cup final for the first time since 1966 but it was a key contest. He filled in for an injured Sergei Fedorov at center between Slava Kozlov and Doug Brown in the Western Conference final against Chicago.
He was always upbeat, always smiling. A good player who was an ever better person.
Johnson’s best season in Detroit was in 1995-96, when he scored 18 goals and collected 40 points in 60 games. He added another three goals in 13 playoff games. But he was dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins for gritty forward Tomas Sandstrom in January of 1997, just a few months before the Wings would win their first Stanley Cup since 1955.
Johnson signed on for a second tour of duty with the Wings in 2006, but during a training camp physical, a heart abnormality was detected and he was forced to retire from the game.
He was living in Livonia, Mich. and working as director of brokerage operations for Concord Investment Services when he died.
Another good guy gone too soon.
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