Jack Johnson - Columbus Blue Jackets

In preparation for the upcoming season I am going to feature one player from every team in the NHL. Goalies are excluded because they’re interesting enough to garner a feature of their own so look forward to that as round 2.

#7 Jack Johnson – Columbus Blue Jackets – Defense

The Past

Jack Johnson is another one of my Team USA boys. He was born in Indianapolis and went to Shattuck-Saint Mary’s in Minnesota, as did light-of-my-life Jonathan Toews. He then played for the University of Michigan and set a bunch of records before entering the NHL right after Michigan lost to my beloved Fighting Sioux in the NCAA Western Regional Semi-finals in 2007. Side note about that game: it was in Denver and there were so many of us in Sioux gear it was insane. But I saw some of the best TV shirts ever during that game – “Ann Arbor is a Whore” was a favorite as was “Sioux is a Girl’s Name”. See, I can recognize good humor, even when it’s against my team. Although I admit if that kid with the Sioux shirt had been sitting closer to me I probably would have thrown my drink at his stupid, fat head.

Sorry, back on track. Johnson was drafted 3^rd overall in 2005 by the Hurricanes but he was traded to the Kings before he ever played a game.

Aw, draft pictures are so adorable. I hate that Sidney Crosby is ruining this picture, but Jack and Bobby Ryan look just precious!

Johnson played for the Kings until February 2012 when he was traded to the Blue Jackets. While I was thrilled for Richie and Carts to be back together I felt like Johnson really got shafted with this trade. The Kings went on to win the Cup just a few months later and poor Jack is stuck in Columbus. I hate to see bad things happen to good Americans so I’m really hoping Howson figures out what he is doing and they somehow turn the Blue Jackets around soon or Jack gets traded to a better team.

The Love

There are few delights in life as great as an American defenseman. I wish he played for the Flyers though since it looks like the Flyers have, well hardly anybody on defense for next season. I would guess Johnson jerseys sell out in Columbus this year because he was a freakin beast in the few months he played there. He was a +5 with Columbus and although I have issues with the whole +/- system in general it still says a lot about him as a player.

I’ve liked Johnson since the 2010 Olympics but I really fell in love with him when he was traded to Columbus. I didn’t hear a single negative word from him. He went with a positive attitude, unlike Carts who pouted and cried basically the entire time he was there (still love you Cheeto). I hope the fans in Columbus show Jack a lot of love and I promise to cheer loudly for him every time I see him play this year.

The Hate

The only thing I hate about Jack Johnson is that he has such a common name that it is sometimes difficult to find pictures of him. Seriously, that is the only thing because he’s a great player, nice guy, and has a funny twitter account.

Let’s Get Scrappy

Johnson doesn’t fight a lot but when he does he usually wins.

Although Johnson beats the ass of my beautiful Landy in the video below it was his first fight as a Blue Jacket so I have to show it.

Yikes, check out the video below where Jack Johnson beats the shit out of Sam Ganger. Damn Johnson, that is hot.

Feed the Inner Fangirl/Fanboy 

Jack is relatively new to twitter but he tweets a lot, which I love. He is also really good about interacting with fans and by interacting I mean more than just throwing down a bunch of RTs. I laughed my ass off one night when he got into a little twitter war with James Wisniewski and became completely overwhelmed with people demanding a retweet or reply. He was such a good sport about it and responded to a ton of people – see he’s just a good guy.

So follow him – he’s American, he’s a cutie, and he’s one of my favorite defensemen in the league -- @JackJohnson3

Kisses!
~Saucer