Johnson's teammates remember the person, player after 'heartbreaking' loss

Adam Johnson's former teammates remember him as a nice, quiet presence in the locker room, but someone with a great, dry sense of humor when he spoke up. He had an incredible work ethic at the rink. He loved fishing, tennis and oldies music when he wasn't on the ice.

"He was just the guy that his teammates rallied around," Johnson's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Pittsburgh linemate Joseph Blandisi told me in a phone interview on Monday. "When he wasn't there, the guys wanted him there. He was the center of attention at most of the team events, guys loved him."

"Adam was such a joyful person," said P.O Joseph, whose first pro season in 2019-20 was Johnson's last year in Wilkes-Barre. "Every time we'd go to the rink down there, he'd be happy to be with the guys, just practicing with each other. He's just a good jokester and likes to bring a smile around the room. I think every day was good memories with him."

Johnson died on Saturday at age 29 in Sheffield, England. He was playing for the Nottingham Panthers of the British Elite Ice Hockey League in a game against the Sheffield Steelers. He collided with a Sheffield defenseman, and the defenseman's skate cut Johnson's throat. Johnson attempted to skate off the ice before collapsing and being tended to by arena paramedics. He was transported to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

Johnson was an undrafted free agent forward signed by the Penguins in 2017 after Johnson impressed at the team's development camp that summer. Johnson was a sophomore at the University of Minnesota-Duluth at the time, roughly 90 minutes from his hometown of Hibbing, Minn.

From that first development camp, it was evident that Johnson's greatest asset was his speed. He undoubtedly was the fastest prospect in the system, if not the fastest player in the entire organization at the time. When Sidney Crosby was asked Monday morning for his memories of Johnson, it was that speed that stuck out the most to him on the ice.

"Just the way he skated," Crosby said. "There's some guys that when you get out there with them, they can just flat out fly. He could motor out there."

Forward Jamie Devane, who played with Johnson in Wilkes-Barre, said that players on the team would jokingly call Johnson "The Accountant."

"He was just built like a skinny, little unassuming accountant," Devane said. "But he could fly around the ice. That was his biggest thing is he could skate."

Sam Lafferty, who played on a line with Johnson in both Wilkes-Barre and Pittsburgh, told reporters in Vancouver on Monday that Johnson was "one of the best skaters I've ever played with."

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Adam Johnson

Johnson spent three years in the Penguins' organization, playing 185 games in the AHL for Wilkes-Barre and 13 games in the NHL with Pittsburgh. Those who know him well have countless stories about his quiet, dry sense of humor. The players from those Wilkes-Barre teams have a group text together still, and the past few days the group has been flooded with those players sharing their favorite memories of Johnson.

"We had Garrett Wilson on our team," Teddy Blueger recalled in a phone call to me on Monday. "And he was one of the better players, but he was also the toughest guy on the team. And before every game, Johnny would just look at him and shake his head and say, 'I could beat the wheels off of you.' He'd just always have stuff like that."

Another memory that makes Blueger laugh was in Pittsburgh's training camp in 2019, and a number of players were in the sauna, including Johnson and Alex Galchenyuk. Johnson looked at Galchenyuk and asked Galchenyuk if he was ever drafted, just messing with him. Galchenyuk, of course, was a former No. 3 overall pick.

One story that stands out for Johnson's Wilkes-Barre teammates was a prank Johnson played on forward Joseph Cramarossa.

"Cramarossa, he was the super-mogul in the room," Devane explained. "And his favorite thing was his car. Sure enough, Johnny goes and messes with all of his wipers, the outside, his mirrors."

Cramarossa dove into the security footage to find the culprit.

"The video is just so funny to see," Devane said. "Johnny walks by Cramarossa's car, takes a look at it, stops, walks back, and screws around with it."

Blueger said that Johnson was "brutally honest, didn't sugarcoat anything." And while that's what often led to Johnson's quips that had his teammates laughing in the locker room, it also had him be a go-to guy for advice or anyone who just wanted to talk.

"Guys felt really comfortable going to him for stuff," Blueger said. "One of the guys (in the group text) said that when his dad had passed away, Johnny was there for him right away. Just listening to him, not judging anything he was saying. He's just very kind and had a big heart, and just a really funny personality. He fit in super well with our group."

PENGUINS

Adam Johnson helps out in a youth clinic with the Penguins in 2017.

Johnson's NHL debut came March 21, 2019 in Nashville, Tenn. in a game against the Predators. In a phone conversation with Johnson the night before his debut shortly after getting into Nashville, he told me he was worried that he wouldn't be able to sleep that night because of the excitement he had for the game. Johnson skated on the wing of a line with Matt Cullen and Garrett Wilson, and the Penguins won the game 2-1 in a shootout. Bryan Rust scored the team's lone goal in regulation, and Crosby scored the shootout winner.

The next day in the locker room, the captain made a gesture to welcome the 24-year-old rookie into the NHL.

"I remember that the day after his first NHL game," Blandisi recalled. "Crosby had his tailor in the dressing room and got Johnny a suit from his tailor as a congratulations for his first NHL game. That's a story I always tell when people ask me how it was playing with Sid, I always tell the story that he bought Johnny a suit after his first game. That always stuck with me."

Johnson's most memorable moment in the NHL came the following season on Oct. 12, 2019 in a win over the Wild. His fourth line with Blandisi and Sam Lafferty combined for three goals in a 7-4 win. Johnson scored his only NHL goal that night, and also assisted on Blandisi's tally.

"I've been thinking about that," Lafferty said of Johnson's goal, one he earned the primary assist on. "Zach Aston-Reese, who was also in Wilkes-Barre, passed it to me, and the puck was just sitting there kind of rolling. He ripped it top shelf, and you can still see the look on his face. Pure elation. Pure joy. It was cool to all come up through Wilkes-Barre together and share that moment. In his home state of Minnesota, on top of that. His whole hometown was there."

PENGUINS

Adam Johnson and Sam Lafferty with their first NHL goal pucks after each scoring in Minnesota

"It was me, Laffs and him, we were on a line and we had a great game," Blandisi recalled. "Between the three of us we got three goals that game and we were flying the whole night. I just remember him and his family there, and he scored his first goal. And it was pretty special sitting with him on the plane after, it was a night to remember for sure."

Kris Letang remembers being on the ice for Johnson's goal and seeing how happy he was, and he remembers how excited the team was for him to have that moment in front of his home crowd. But what sticks with Letang the most about Johnson was the person he was off the ice. Johnson was around the team for the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs in the bubble, and Letang got to know Johnson there, often playing tennis with Johnson on off days.

"It's how good of a person he was -- calm, quiet, but at the same time just a great guy to be around," Letang said. "It's such a tragedy. There's no words to describe it."

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Adam Johnson

Mike Sullivan got emotional on Monday morning when reflecting on his memories of Johnson, calling his death an "incredible tragedy."

"He's a terrific kid. It was a privilege to be his coach," Sullivan said. "I remember when he first came to our development camp, that was my first experience of watching him play. I talked to his college coaches about him when we were recruiting him to be a Penguin. I do remember his first goal in Minnesota. He was a great kid, and he was a good player. Boy, he could really skate. It was a privilege to be his coach. There are no words I have to explain how I feel about it. It's just an incredible tragedy."

Crosby called the news "heartbreaking."

"It's something that we've all been thinking about since finding out," Crosby said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and loved ones. He's just a great guy, a great teammate, and had an awesome attitude when he was here. He was just genuinely happy to be playing in the NHL. It's heartbreaking that that's happened."

The hockey world has come together for tributes and gestures to honor the memory of Johnson in the days since. Wilkes-Barre's game on Sunday was in Hershey against the rival Bears, who held a moment of silence for Johnson before the game. Players joined together in a circle during the tribute:

HERSHEY BEARS

The Penguins had a video tribute for Johnson before their game against the Ducks at PPG Paints Arena on Monday, showcasing his three years in the organization -- but especially that goal at home in Minnesota:

Rather than holding a moment of silence, public address announcer Ryan Mill asked fans to stand and cheer for the life of Johnson:

Blueger, now playing in Vancouver, said when he got home Monday evening he sat down and watched the Penguins' pregame tribute to Johnson.

"It was touching," he said. "I thought it was really good, and a little bit hard to watch."

The Penguins and Ducks also wore helmet stickers with "AJ 47," with No. 47 being the jersey number Johnson wore in Wilkes-Barre, Pittsburgh and Nottingham:

PENGUINS

The sticker remembering Adam Johnson on the back of Evgeni Malkin's helmet on Monday.

DUCKS

After leaving the Penguins' organization in 2020, Johnson went on to play in Sweden with the Malmo Redhawks, the AHL with the Ontario Reign and Lehigh Valley Phantoms, and in Germany with the Augsbuger Panther before moving to England and signing with Nottingham for this season.

The Ontario Reign honored Johnson after their game Sunday night by naming him the No. 1 star of the game. His jersey was brought out to center ice, and the players on the roster who played with Johnson skated out along with it:

For Johnson's former teammates, it's been comforting to see all of the shows of support in the last couple of days for the player they'll remember first and foremost as a good person.

"It's not going to change anything or bring him back," said Blueger. "But I think hopefully, for his family and everyone to see how loved he was and how great of a person he was, and how much everyone's going to miss him, it's nice. Hopefully we can remember him, and this isn't just a couple-day thing. We can keep his memory alive going forward, as well."

"Everybody has good things to say about him," Blandisi said. "There's not a player out there who has a bad thing to say about him. He's a person that the world needs more of, honestly, and he got taken from us way too soon."

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Adam Johnson