DENVER — Avalanche defenseman Jack Johnson is a recent graduate from the University of Michigan who made his Stanley Cup Final debut in Game 1 on Wednesday.
But he’s no spring chicken.
Johnson is 35. It took him 17 years to complete his general studies degree and 15 years to reach the NHL championship series.
“It was a big thing for myself. I wanted to do it,” Johnson said of his degree after Saturday’s morning skate at Ball Arena ahead of Game 2 against the Tampa Bay Lightning. “As a kid, I grew up dreaming of playing college hockey at Michigan. I wanted to graduate from there — No. 1-ranked public school in the country. So it meant a lot to me. (And) I made a promise to (former Wolverines coach) Red Berenson when I left that I was going to finish. So I called him as soon as I did.”
Johnson signed with the Los Angeles Kings after his sophomore season at Michigan in 2007. The Kings won the Stanley Cup in 2014 — months after they sent Johnson to the Columbus Blue Jackets ahead of the trade deadline. This is Johnson’s eighth trip to the Stanley Cup playoffs but his first playing beyond the first round.
“It was everything I thought it would be,” Johnson said of his lifelong dream of playing in the Final. “I tried to stay pretty calm, cool, and collected going into it, just knowing it’s another hockey game. The adrenaline was going to get going once I got out there on the ice with the atmosphere and the fans and everything. It was pretty incredible.
“We’re enjoying it, staying in the moment. But there’s a lot of work ahead of us here.”
But the work for his degree is complete. He joked about the number of years it took him.
“Most people are at least a doctor at that point,” he said.
Johnson completed two years’ worth of his college education in the NHL offseason — including the pandemic.
“Some of the seasons where I wasn’t fortunate enough to make playoffs I go back for spring terms, online courses,” he said. “Took advantage of some of the time during the pandemic where they offered some online courses that I normally would have to be on campus for.”
Johnson joined the Avs in training camp last fall on a professional tryout contract. The club then signed him to a veteran-minimum contract and he made the opening-night lineup — scoring the Avs’ first goal in a 4-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 13.
Johnson played in 74 of 82 regular-season games but was a healthy scratch in the first six playoff games. The return of rookie defenseman Bo Byram from a long injury absence and the trade-deadline acquisition of Josh Manson pushed Johnson out of the lineup. But he stepped in for Sam Girard after he sustained a broken sternum in Game 3 of the second-round series against St. Louis.
Now Johnson is three wins from hoisting the Stanley Cup.
“It’s incredibly special. You never know if you’re going to get an opportunity to play for it,” he said. “And we’ve worked so hard this year to get to this point where we now have an opportunity. You never know if we’re ever going to get back here. It took me this long to get this chance here. I think all the young guys understand that as well. It’s special and we’re trying to make the most of it.”
