Brent Johnson

Brent Johnson
Date of birth	March 12, 1977
place of birth	Farmington , Michigan , USA
size	191 cm
Weight	93 kg
position	goalkeeper
number	#1
Catch hand	Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft	1995 , 5th lap, 129th position Colorado Avalanche
Career stations
1993-1994	Detroit Compuware Ambassadors
1994-1997	Owen Sound Platers
1997-2000	Worcester IceCats
2000-2004	St. Louis Blues
2004-2005	Phoenix Coyotes
2005	Vancouver Canucks
2005-2009	Washington Capitals
2009–2012	Pittsburgh Penguins

Brent Spencer Johnson (born March 12, 1977 in Farmington , Michigan ) is a former American ice hockey goalkeeper who last played until 2012 for the Pittsburgh Penguins in the National Hockey League .

Career

Brent Johnson began his career in 1994 in the Canadian Junior League OHL with the Owen Sound Platers . After his first season he was selected in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft by the Colorado Avalanche in the fifth round at position 129. He played two more years for the Platers in the OHL before Colorado transferred the rights to him to the St. Louis Blues .

From the fall of 1997, Johnson played in the American Hockey League with the Worcester IceCats , the farm team of the Blues. In the 1998/99 season he came to his first six appearances in the National Hockey League and was able to convince, but still spent most of the season, as well as the entire next year in the AHL.

In September 2000, he was invited back to the St. Louis Blues training camp and competed with Dwayne Roloson for the post of back-up goalkeeper behind Roman Turek , everyone expecting the veteran Roloson to win. But Johnson was able to prevail. And spent the entire 2000/01 season in the NHL with the Blues and was allowed to play 31 games as a substitute goalkeeper, of which he was able to win.

Olaf Kölzig and Brent Johnson

In the summer of 2001, Turek was transferred to the Calgary Flames and Johnson took the position as a regular goalkeeper in the 2001/02 season . He proved that he has what it takes to be a regular goalkeeper of an NHL team and was able to get 34 wins and showed an excellent value with an average goal conceded of 2.18.

In the 2002/03 season , Johnson was no longer the undisputed number one in St. Louis. Although he had completed the most games of all goalkeepers in the team with 38 games, the team used seven goalkeepers in total during the season. In addition, Chris Osgood, a competitor who had already won two Stanley Cups , was committed. Osgood also took over the post as the undisputed regular goalkeeper in the 2003/04 season , while Johnson shared the role of back-up goalie with the Austrian Reinhard Divis and was rarely used.

Brent Johnson and Fyodor Fyodorov of the Vancouver Canucks

During the season he was transferred to the Phoenix Coyotes in March 2004 , but where he had little luck and could only get one win out of eight games during the rest of the season.

The 2004/05 NHL season was canceled due to the lockout and in the summer of 2005 Johnson signed a contract with the Vancouver Canucks . Shortly before the start of the season, the Canucks put him on the waiver list because they wanted to send him to their AHL farm team, the Manitoba Moose . But the Washington Capitals took the chance and signed Johnson off the waiver list.

As a back-up goalie for Olaf Kölzig , he completed the season in the NHL, but was not able to shine particularly well, which was also due to the fact that the team was considered the league's "shooting gallery" this season.

During the 2006/07 season , the Capitals extended Johnson's contract for two years.

Special

On February 4, 2006 at the game between the Washington Capitals and the Tampa Bay Lightning Brent Johnson and John Grahame faced each other as goalkeepers. What was special about it was that for the first time there were two goalkeepers who come from families that are now in the second generation of an NHL goalkeeper. Johnson's father Bob and Graham's father Ron have already stood between the posts in the NHL.

family

Ice hockey has a long tradition in Brent Johnson's family. His father, Bob Johnson, played two seasons in the NHL for the St. Louis Blues and the Pittsburgh Penguins . His grandfather Sid Abel was one of the great players of the forties and fifties. He won three Stanley Cups, received the NHL Most Valuable Player Awards, and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame . The Detroit Red Wings honored him with a banner with his number 12 hanging on the ceiling of the Joe Louis Arena . The number has not been given to any player since then. After his active career, he coached several teams in the NHL. Sid Abel died in February 2000.

Web links

• Brent Johnson at hockeydb.com (English)
• Brent Johnson at hockeygoalies.org