It’s always a treat when former NHL player Mike Johnson is the colour commentator for Canadiens games on TSN.
In my opinion, Johnson ranks among the very best at what he does, right up there with former TSN analyst Ray Ferraro, who now works for ESPN/ABC.
Johnson is intelligent with a high hockey IQ — which helped him play 11 seasons in the NHL despite not getting drafted. He’s articulate and isn’t afraid to call things as he sees them on the ice with players and officials. He also has a great sense of humour, and it’s obvious he’s having fun doing his job. He makes it feel like you’re watching the game with a buddy who played in the NHL.
Johnson worked the last two Canadiens games — a 3-1 win over the Hurricanes last Sunday in Carolina and a 4-1 win over the Lightning Tuesday in Tampa. Unfortunately, those were the last two Canadiens games he will do this season.
Johnson has a history with the Canadiens — he played one season with the team in 2006-07 — and head coach Martin St. Louis.
When St. Louis joined the Tampa Bay Lightning for the 2000-01 season after clearing waivers and being released by the Calgary Flames, Johnson was his teammate. They had played against each other for four seasons in the NCAA, from 1993 to 1997, when Johnson was at Bowling Green and St. Louis was at the University of Vermont.
“He was the top player at Vermont and I was a mediocre player at Bowling Green,” Johnson said during a phone interview Thursday morning from San Jose, where he was preparing to work the Sharks game that night against the Toronto Maple Leafs. “If you can believe it, there was a day in the NHL where Marty used to aspire to play with me — be part of my line. Could you believe it? Could you believe it? What happened to me?”
When St. Louis started with the Lightning, he was a fourth-liner hoping to eventually play on the No. 1 line with Johnson and Vincent Lecavalier. The Lightning ended up trading Johnson to the Phoenix Coyotes at the NHL trade deadline in 2001, and St. Louis eventually made the first line and went on to have a 16-year Hall of Fame playing career before becoming head coach of the Canadiens four years ago.
Johnson was surprised when he first heard the Canadiens had hired St. Louis.
“Yeah, of course,” he said. “I would see Marty very sporadically, but I knew he was in Connecticut and was involved in his kids’ hockey. But I had Wayne Gretzky as my coach (in Arizona). I had the greatest player ever go from not coaching to coaching an NHL game and it’s hard. It was challenging for Gretz his first year because you’re learning stuff that you will figure out, but you don’t know it yet.”
Gretzky coached in Arizona for four seasons, posting a 143-161-24 overall record, and the Coyotes never made the playoffs.
“So Marty went from coaching bantam-age kids or U16 … that’s not the same as the NHL,” Johnson said. “So, of course, I was a bit surprised because it’s a big, big step. Even with the relationship to Montreal, to (general manger) Kent Hughes, to Gorts (president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton), all that stuff, it still seemed like a non-guaranteed, non-conventional decision. And maybe Montreal was in a spot where they could afford to do that because they were not super competitive and they maybe needed something a little different. But I was very surprised and I was curious to see how he did.”
Johnson is now very impressed with the job St. Louis has done behind the bench.
“I talk to Marty and it’s like: ‘You’re Marty my buddy, but you’re also Marty the coach. Which one am I going to look at you as?’ ” Johnson said with a chuckle. “But when you speak to him he has that presence, that gravitas, that knowledge of all the top coaches. To take the Canadiens through a difficult time with his spirit and everything else, and now that they’re through that time, he is more than capable and is showing he’s a very good coach. Very bright. On a personal level — and also for the Canadiens — it’s been fun to watch him grow and improve and become really, really good.”
The Canadiens have also become really, really good under St. Louis. They were sitting in sixth place in the overall NHL standings after six straight wins with a 43-21-10 record before facing the Rangers Thursday in New York (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS).
“What I like about them beyond the talents — they have incredibly talented players — but they’re able to win in different ways and I think that’s a real testament to the stronger teams in the league,” Johnson said. “They don’t need any one thing. It doesn’t always have to be goaltending, it doesn’t always have to be your stars scoring a bunch. They can win many different ways, and that’s the sign of the growth of a good team. What (goalie Jakub) Dobes has done of late has been incredible, and if they get goaltending like that, they’re going to be really good. They have top players that are already top players that are getting better.
“The East is wide open,” Johnson added. “I suppose Tampa is the favourite. But beyond that, Montreal would be right there with everybody else.”
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