Johnson 'grateful and lucky' for journey to 1,000 NHL games

Erik Johnson appreciates the long road it's taken for him to reach 1,000 games in the NHL.

The Philadelphia Flyers defenseman also knows it's a journey that could’ve reached its destination years earlier.

"I've certainly played long enough to have hit it a while ago," Johnson said. "But I've had some real tough injuries, some I wasn't sure I was going to come back from, from knees to concussions to whatever. I've had some tough ones that I really had to grind and rehab and come back from. Certainly affected the timeline of it, for sure.

“But I've just tried to wake up every day and just attack whatever's been thrown at me and just grind away and attack my rehab, attack my training, and just try and play as long as I can, as hard as I can. I just love coming to the rink, showing up and playing and working."

That he's still showing up and playing after what he's gone through during his 17 NHL seasons speaks to a mental toughness that rivals the physical toughness it takes to play as long as he has.

Johnson will become the 403rd NHL player to reach 1,000 games when he plays Saturday for the Flyers against the Buffalo Sabres at Wells Fargo Center (7 p.m. ET; NBCSP, MSG-B).

The 36-year-old has two points (one goal, one assist) and is averaging 12:58 of ice time in 12 games this season. Selected by the St. Louis Blues with the No. 1 pick of the 2006 NHL Draft, the 36-year-old has 345 points (94 goals, 251 assists) in 999 regular-season games with the Blues, Colorado Avalanche, Sabres and Flyers, and 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in 55 Stanley Cup Playoff games. He helped the Avalanche win the Cup in 2022.

He's the 23rd player selected No. 1 at the draft to play 1,000 games, and the sixth defenseman, joining Roman Hamrlik (1,395), Chris Phillips (1,179), Ed Jovanovski (1,128), Denis Potvin (1,060) and Rob Ramage (1,044).

"I feel super grateful and lucky," Johnson said. "I have great parents to support me, to push me, and great coaches and teammates and just a lot of people that supported me along the way, that helped me get to this point.

"It's just a cool milestone. It's super-tough to attain, and you have to play for a long time. I mean, the average NHL career is something like four years, maybe. You just have to have people in your corner, I think. You have to work hard, you have to be a good player, you have to have some injury luck, I guess, whether you could say that about me or not."

It's safe to say that injury luck rarely has been in Johnson's favor, dating to what would have been his second NHL season. An accident during a golf outing two days before the start of training camp left him with torn ligaments in his right knee that sidelined him for the entire 2008-09 season.

He was 20 years old, living on his own in St. Louis, and for the first time without hockey, which had been the one constant in his life.

"It was hard because I had a ton of expectations and pressure, and then I missed the whole year with a freak injury, so I was embarrassed," he said. "Mentally and then physically, I didn't know if I was going to feel the same when I came back. So there's a lot of unknowns.

"It was tough, but I really only had myself to blame and had to look in the mirror and figure it out and grow up. It taught me young how to grind and attack rehab. If you don't take care of your body, where are you going to live? Essentially, it's your temple. So I kind of tried to dump all my resources into making myself better and just trying to attack the rehab, attack hockey, and just try and do the best I could in a tough situation."

He returned to play 79 games in 2009-10, and 22 more the next season before being traded to Avalanche on Feb. 18, 2011.

That began a 13-season run that saw him play 717 games, which is second most by a defenseman in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history, and get 246 points (68 goals, 178 assists), which is sixth in franchise history at the position. But as the points piled up, so did the injuries.

He missed the final 34 games of the 2014-15 season because of an injury to his right knee. In 2016-17 he missed the final 36 games because of a broken right fibula sustained blocking a shot. In 2017-18 a fractured patella cost him the final 11 regular-season games and a chance to play in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The injury that nearly derailed his quest for 1,000 games came Jan. 30, 2021, when he sustained a season-ending concussion that had him contemplating retirement.

"I missed pretty much the whole shortened COVID year and then was really close to just hanging it up that summer," he said. "I had a lot of support from like my teammates and my family, and (Nathan) MacKinnon and (Gabriel) Landeskog really just said, just give it another chance and if you don't feel good, then you can call it. So I owe those guys a lot to just kind of help me stick with it and push through it."

Johnson pushed through to play 77 regular-season games in 2021-22 and 20 games during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which ended with Johnson being the first player to receive the Cup after Landeskog, Colorado's captain, skated the first lap with it.

"Huge part of our Cup team on and off the ice, huge contributions," MacKinnon said. "Wouldn't have won it without him."

Whatever on-ice contributions Johnson made, his role behind the scenes was just as pivotal.

"It's a long year and you can't be a robot the whole time," MacKinnon said. "He was always bringing life and putting smiles on everyone's faces. Just an awesome person, awesome player and definitely a prankster for sure."

Johnson's go-to prank could best be called the fake video trick.

"I would sometimes mess with young guys, or old guys," he said. "There was this app that would generate a fake number, and I would text the guys on the number and say, 'Hey, it's coach so and so, meet me down by the pool for video in an hour.' This would be on the road in the hotel and my room would overlook the pool and we'd get three or four guys in my room, and we'd see … one year it was (Nazem) Kadri, and Kadri went down to the pool, and he's looking around for the coach for video, and no one is there. He's just looking around. He's like, 'What the [heck] is going on here?'

"I got a rookie, Ben Meyers, one year. It was in Nashville, and I get on the fake texting app and text him, 'Hey, it's (assistant coach Ray) Bennett, come up to my room, Room 700 or whatever, at 9:30, and by the way, bring me two bottles of wine.' And the kid texts back, 'What kind of wine?' And I said ‘both, a red and a white.’ So the kid comes up, knocks on the coach's room, the coach opens the door, and the rookie's got a bottle of red and bottle of white, and said, 'Hey, I'm here for video.' Coach goes, 'Not here, someone's [messing] with you.'"

Johnson hasn't gotten any of his current Flyers teammates with the fake video trick, but he's still keeping things light. That includes leaving funny messages in English and Russian for rookie forward Matvei Michkov to help him learn the language.

"Great locker room guy, he's been awesome around us off the ice, and just a guy that brings a lot of fun to the rink," defenseman Travis Sanheim said. "It's a long season. You need guys like that, guys that are able to lighten the mood, and he does a great job with that."

Johnson also leads in other ways, including how he prepares for games. The injury to his right knee he sustained in 2008, and re-injured again in 2015, still affects him.

"That's what I've really had to tough through and nurse along over the years, with the injections and all that, and the rehab," he said. "But you find a way to adapt and adjust. I kind of had to alter my skating so I wouldn't be as quad dominant with my knee over my toe, because it really affected my knee injury doing that. So I kind of had to change my skating and adjust to that. It was tough, but you find a way. You just try and grind and figure it out."

Flyers general manager Daniel Briere saw it firsthand when he played with Johnson on the Avalanche in 2014-15. So when the opportunity came to acquire Johnson from the Sabres at the NHL Trade Deadline last season, he knew exactly what he kind of player and person the Flyers would be getting.

It's also why, when Johnson approached the Flyers this offseason about returning for a 17th NHL season, it was an easy negotiation. Johnson signed a one-year, $1 million contract July 1.

"He keeps things loose," Briere said. "We used to joke Erik was a 5-year-old in a 30-year-old body. Always laughing, always keeping things light. Fun to be around. Never took himself seriously. Amazing teammate to have. That goes a long way.

"It's funny how eight years later, I become GM, his name starts popping around. It made my life a lot easier, knowing him, knowing the type of person, teammate, leader that he is. There's no hesitation when we're looking for someone to come in and help out with our young guys. ... And knowing Erik, knowing one his character, it was an easy decision to bring him back."

And though Johnson came back with the expectation of a reduced role, he's played 12 of Philadelphia's 14 games this season. He's willing to play as much or as little as needed moving forward.

"I literally don't care what my role is," he said. "I know I can stay ready and play when called upon. I will literally do anything for the good of the team and play as many games as they want. I truly love being with the guys and around the rink and helping them, and I love the game. I'll do this as long as my body feels good, as long as my injuries don't pop up and you're miserable walking into the rink every day because you're in pain. But I'll play literally as long as I can.

"I love the game and I love coming to the rink. I've attacked each hurdle with 100 percent work ethic. I just tried to wake up every single day and control what I can control. You can control your attitude and your effort every single day no matter what. That's kind of what I've tried to do. It wasn't always easy, but I love the game, and I love coming to the rink every day, really."

NHL.com independent correspondent Ryan Boulding contributed to this report