OT: Erik Johnson Retires

[dr0zombie]

Congratulations to Erik Johnson for having a long career. Cup win in 2022 (or could have been 2019 ) he got his name on the cup and played for two decades. That is an impressive career.

[danno]

Didn't he tear multiple ligaments? Not just the ACL

[Hockey Pete]

Whiffing on a 1st over all pick sets teams back for years....

EJ wasn't a whiff... He led all rookie defenders in 07-08 season in scoring (prior to his injury) on one of the worst scoring teams in the NHL... Oh, and some of those other rookies were Letang, Yandle, Niskanen, etc...

He suffered one of the worst injuries you can get (most don't come back from it) AND THEN played 1000+ games. That's drive and dedication.

There are fewer players I respect more than EJ.

Are you saying his knee injury was worse than a typical blown ACL? If so, what are the details on his knee injury that made it so much worse?

Far worse, as he tore his ACL, MCL and his meniscus (in the sports world it's called the Bad News Trifecta). Prior to EJ, no NHL player had ever come back from that injury (although to be fair, there were only a few as it's a rare injury in Hockey, and even EJ got it from a Golf Cart). Heck, they had to wait 10 days for the swelling to go down before they could even get a good MRI.

EJ's saving grace was that his donor graph was so successful (I believe is was his patellar tendon, but it's been awhile).

[blues2112]

Whiffing on a 1st over all pick sets teams back for years....

EJ wasn't a whiff... He led all rookie defenders in 07-08 season in scoring (prior to his injury) on one of the worst scoring teams in the NHL... Oh, and some of those other rookies were Letang, Yandle, Niskanen, etc...

He suffered one of the worst injuries you can get (most don't come back from it) AND THEN played 1000+ games. That's drive and dedication.

There are fewer players I respect more than EJ.

Are you saying his knee injury was worse than a typical blown ACL? If so, what are the details on his knee injury that made it so much worse?

Far worse, as he tore his ACL, MCL and his meniscus (in the sports world it's called the Bad News Trifecta). Prior to EJ, no NHL player had ever come back from that injury (although to be fair, there were only a few as it's a rare injury in Hockey, and even EJ got it from a Golf Cart). Heck, they had to wait 10 days for the swelling to go down before they could even get a good MRI.

EJ's saving grace was that his donor graph was so successful (I believe is was his patellar tendon, but it's been awhile).

Thanks Hockey Pete! I'd forgotten the specifics, but appreciated his work in recovery.

At the time, he was (easily) the No. 1 consensus top pick of that draft. The term back then was "franchise player," if I remember correctly.

Just kills me how much of this board destroys virtually everyone. (STL fan in MN, this is NOT a reference to you. You are a fair-minded poster.)