When someone logs nearly 1,200 games in the NHL, there aren’t going to be many scenarios a player hasn’t faced.
Still, Jack Johnson will encounter a scenario Saturday night that most players in league history won’t see twice. For the second time in three years, Johnson will play against his former Avalanche teammates … in the home opener at Ball Arena.
“It’s always weird,” Johnson said in the Columbus Blue Jackets’ locker room. “When you line up, you want to genuinely dislike the guys on the other side. And this one’s always a little different for me. Luckily, I’ve got a little experience doing it now. It’s not my first time lining up against them in a home opener.”
Johnson joined Colorado ahead of the 2021-22 season and helped the club win the Stanley Cup. He signed with the Chicago Blackhawks in the offseason, who happened to be the opponent when the Avs raised the championship banner to the rafters at Ball Arena the following year.
He rejoined the Avs ahead of the 2023 trade deadline, then signed for one more year before last season. Johnson has been a divisive player, particularly in the analytics community, for much of his 19-year NHL career. But he found a role that worked in Colorado, both for him and the team.
“He was outstanding for us, and a big part of our Cup run,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “Obviously we thought enough of him to bring him back. He’s a great teammate, great person.
“The first thing we tried to do when we got here — it was a rebuild, and the culture was really important to us. It still is. It’s the first thing we talk about in our opening meeting and training camp. We’ve had a really good group and strong leadership in that room, and Jack was part of it.”
Johnson settled in as a third-pairing defense for the Avs, but his biggest contributions were often on the penalty kill and in the locker room. Like the recently retired Andrew Cogliano, Johnson was never one of the most talented players in Colorado’s lineup.
But they were both players who others on the club looked up to, and both were never afraid to voice their opinions.
“Jack was somebody I got to know last year. He took me to dinner a bunch,” second-year Avs forward Ross Colton said. “We formed a nice little friendship. It’s different seeing him on the other side. He’s a great teammate, great competitor. … He’s a champion for a reason.
“I’m sure we’ll have some smiles (on the ice), give him a bump on the shin pad. Maybe I’ll try to lay a hit on him early.”
When Colorado remade the bottom of its defense corps this offseason, Johnson signed a one-year deal with Columbus. He spent parts of seven seasons with the Blue Jackets earlier in his career, and it’s where his family has settled.
Now, his kids are old enough to enjoy going to games to watch dad play. And the commute is in a car, not an airplane.
“That’s been really special for my family, to be able to go home, pick my kids up from school, spend a little more time with them especially as my kids get older,” Johnson said. “Guys who are older and have kids, they know it gets a little more complicated with family and travel and everything. I feel blessed to get a chance to play at home.”
The Blue Jackets are not expected to be a playoff team this season, but Bednar believes there are ways he can help a rebuilding club with a bunch of young players trying to find their way in the NHL. Johnson does as well.
“Definitely the professionalism,” he said when asked what wisdom from his time in Colorado he can impart. “One thing that was really a great skill the Avs had was they were always an even-keeled team. They never got too high, never got too low. Whether you won a couple or lost a couple, everyone had the same attitude at the rink every day.
“All the decisions they made at the rink and away from the rink were about winning.”
Want more Avalanche news? Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis.
