It\u2019s always a treat when former NHL player Mike Johnson is the colour commentator for Canadiens games on TSN.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Johnson is intelligent with a high hockey IQ \u2014 which helped him play 11 seasons in the NHL despite not getting drafted. He\u2019s articulate and isn\u2019t 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\u2019s obvious he\u2019s having fun doing his job. He makes it feel like you\u2019re watching the game with a buddy who played in the NHL.<\/p>\n
Johnson worked the last two Canadiens games \u2014 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. <\/p>\n
Johnson has a history with the Canadiens \u2014 he played one season with the team in 2006-07 \u2014 and head coach Martin St. Louis.<\/p>\n
![\"Hockey](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/pob10-1109-habs0015a_95112508.jpg\")
Mike Johnson of TSN is shown in the broadcast booth prior to the Canadiens vs. Vancouver Canucks in Montreal on Nov. 9, 2010. He\u2019s articulate and isn\u2019t afraid to call things as he sees them on the ice with players and officials, Stu Cowan writes. He also has a great sense of humour, and it\u2019s obvious he\u2019s having fun doing his job. Pierre Obendrauf \/ The Gazette<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was the top player at Vermont and I was a mediocre player at Bowling Green,\u201d 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. \u201cIf you can believe it, there was a day in the NHL where Marty used to aspire to play with me \u2014 be part of my line. Could you believe it? Could you believe it? What happened to me?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
![\"Sportsnet](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0403-spt-col-cowan-x.jpg\")
Sportsnet analyst Mike Johnson, right, and play-by-play commentator John Bartlett before a Canadiens-Buffalo Sabres game in Montreal on Feb. 3, 2016. John Mahoney \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n
Johnson was surprised when he first heard the Canadiens had hired St. Louis.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, of course,\u201d he said. \u201cI would see Marty very sporadically, but I knew he was in Connecticut and was involved in his kids\u2019 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\u2019s hard. It was challenging for Gretz his first year because you\u2019re learning stuff that you will figure out, but you don\u2019t know it yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gretzky coached in Arizona for four seasons, posting a 143-161-24 overall record, and the Coyotes never made the playoffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo Marty went from coaching bantam-age kids or U16 \u2026 that\u2019s not the same as the NHL,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cSo, of course, I was a bit surprised because it\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson is now very impressed with the job St. Louis has done behind the bench.<\/p>\n
\u201cI talk to Marty and it\u2019s like: \u2018You\u2019re Marty my buddy, but you\u2019re also Marty the coach. Which one am I going to look at you as?\u2019 \u201d Johnson said with a chuckle. \u201cBut 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\u2019re through that time, he is more than capable and is showing he\u2019s a very good coach. Very bright. On a personal level \u2014 and also for the Canadiens \u2014 it\u2019s been fun to watch him grow and improve and become really, really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
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).<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I like about them beyond the talents \u2014 they have incredibly talented players \u2014 but they\u2019re able to win in different ways and I think that\u2019s a real testament to the stronger teams in the league,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThey don\u2019t need any one thing. It doesn\u2019t always have to be goaltending, it doesn\u2019t always have to be your stars scoring a bunch. They can win many different ways, and that\u2019s 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\u2019re going to be really good. They have top players that are already top players that are getting better.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe East is wide open,\u201d Johnson added. \u201cI suppose Tampa is the favourite. But beyond that, Montreal would be right there with everybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n