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Canadiens\u2019 Mike Johnson takes Pittsburgh Penguins\u2019 Maxime Talbot to the ice at the Bell Centre on Feb. 4, 2007. He talks to The Gazette\u2019s Stu Cowan about his only season with the Canadiens: \u201cI remember my family was excited about me playing in Montreal. My mom is from Montreal, my parents were married there, my sister was born there. My mom was from Rosem\u00e8re. So it was a bit of a homecoming. I have aunts and uncles and everything there, so that was exciting.\u201d Dave Sidaway \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n
After having a 30-minute phone conversation with Johnson on Thursday to talk about his job, his time with the Canadiens and Maple Leafs, his relationship with St. Louis, whether he\u2019d have interest in an NHL management job (possibly with Toronto), I figured I\u2019d devote this week\u2019s Stu\u2019s Slapshots notebook entirely to Johnson in a Q&A format.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s a very interesting man to talk with and I hope you enjoy the Q&A.<\/p>\n
On why he wasn\u2019t drafted:<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t drafted because I wasn\u2019t very good (chuckles). There\u2019s no bitterness. I would not have drafted me, either. It was not an upsetting decision. I went to school to go to school and hockey was a means to an end and it led to an education. I guess at some point in my final season it sort of became apparent I was going to have a chance. But I did not grow up in high school or even through my first three years of university even aspiring to play in the NHL because it was so far gone. It was like aspiring to go to the moon. Like, I\u2019m never going to do it, so why would I think about it? I was just having a good time. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn my second or third year (of university) I was like: \u2018Maybe I could play East Coast league for a year just to have the experience or maybe I could go to Europe before I get into my real world on Bay St. or whatever.\u2019 It wasn\u2019t probably until November of my final senior season where I\u2019m like: \u2018OK, I guess I\u2019m going to have this chance\u2019 \u2014 and I did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Was he expecting to have a career in finance instead of hockey?<\/p>\n
\u201cOne hundred per cent. That\u2019s what I wanted to do my whole life. In high school that\u2019s what I thought I would do and that\u2019s what I prepared to do and that\u2019s what I fully intended to do. I was planning my life around having a regular Wall St. kind of job.\u201d<\/p>\n
How did he end up in the NHL after not getting drafted?<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess what helped me is that I was a free agent, in the end, because I was able to pick a crappy team to play for. Everyone was like: \u2018You chose Toronto because you live there?\u2019 I\u2019m like: \u2018Bull.\u2019 I guess that was a perk, but no, I chose Toronto because they were no good and they needed right-wingers. That might have been the best decision I ever made because they were no good and they did need right-wingers and it seemed to work out.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy first coach was Mike Murphy before Pat Quinn took over from him. And Murph was great to me, he played me a ton. But he and his assistant at the time was Mike Kitchen and they both told me after I retired: \u2018The reason you got to play so much wasn\u2019t because you scored, it was because we could play you if you weren\u2019t scoring.\u2019 And so I guess that\u2019s sort of what got me started in the NHL is that I was smart enough defensively and aware enough that if I was not scoring in that particular moment \u2014 which you don\u2019t always do in the NHL, when you\u2019re young or maybe ever \u2014 I could still help the team. <\/p>\n
\u201cI killed penalties my whole career and I could play at the end of games. I could play against the other teams\u2019 good players as well as trying to score all the time. And so I think maybe that sort of awareness was something I was good at, I guess. And I guess I was a good enough skater. Because when I got to the NHL I was weaker and I wasn\u2019t as aggressive and all the rest of it, but the game was not too fast. It wasn\u2019t too fast for my legs and it wasn\u2019t too fast for my head. And I guess that sort of stayed with me throughout my career.\u201d<\/p>\n
Has that high hockey IQ helped him in his career as an analyst?<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe (chuckles). I guess so. Doing what I do now we all sort of see the game through the prism of the way that we played it. So if you were a tough guy, then you probably see the value in being an agitator and those kind of players. If you were a super-skilled guy, you see the game and the value through those guys. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, in my career, I did play defensively. I was also the leading scorer on a team, I was on the power play. I sort of did everything up and down the lineup at different points in my career. And maybe that has helped. Essentially, my job is to sort of explain what\u2019s happening and why. And, really, the why and maybe the analytical nature of my mind \u2014 both on and off the ice \u2014 I always want to understand why? That\u2019s a common question in my world, why is that happening? \u2014 no matter what we\u2019re talking about. And maybe that has helped a little bit, I hope.\u201d<\/p>\n
On what he remembers about his one season with the Canadiens in 2006-07, during which he posted 11-20-31 totals in 80 games with the team missing the playoffs after finishing 10th in the Eastern Conference with a 43-34-6 record:<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted it to be more than one season (chuckles). Yeah, I wanted to come back. I would have stayed there much longer, but it didn\u2019t work out that way.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember my family was excited about me playing in Montreal. My mom is from Montreal, my parents were married there, my sister was born there. My mom was from Rosem\u00e8re. So it was a bit of a homecoming. I have aunts and uncles and everything there, so that was exciting.<\/p>\n
\t\tEditor\u2019s Picks\t<\/p>\n
\u201cI was happy to play in a place where hockey matters again after being in Arizona, which I loved and I had great success there. But it was neat to be back in a traditional hockey market. I had a great time. It was odd that I was sort of new to the team, but felt close to a lot of those guys very quickly. I remember me and Radek Bonk were attached at the hip the whole year. We could not shake each other. We both wanted to get to a scoring line and we both got there.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I think about my career there are losses that sting more than others. But there\u2019s not a lot of times you look back and say that one really stays with you because you do the\u00a0best you can and the results come when they come and whatever\u2019s going to happen. But we lost Game 82 of that year to the Toronto Maple Leafs in a game we only needed to get to overtime to make the playoffs and we were up 5-3 in the third period and we lost it in regulation. I remember that because of all the 700 games I played, that\u2019s the single regular-season game loss that sticks out clearest, the worst. I hate that game. It stays with me because I wanted that playoff experience in Montreal and to see what we could have done. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut I loved it. I really wanted to come back and they wanted to go a different direction. But I would have played there as long as I could.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why wasn\u2019t he able to stay in Montreal, instead signing as a free agent with St. Louis?<\/p>\n
\u201c(General manager Bob Gainey) wanted something different, he wanted to get more physical. He went and signed Tom Kostopoulos \u2014 and that\u2019s apples and oranges. We\u2019re not the same kind of player. So you didn\u2019t replace me, you just went in a different direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
What was the difference between playing for the Leafs and the Canadiens?<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have their similarities. I played when social media was just sort of starting, so maybe that factors into it, but I almost felt like there was more media around in Montreal than Toronto and there\u2019s more scrutiny in Montreal than Toronto. So all those people who say Toronto\u2019s so hard to play in, I\u2019m like: \u2018No, it\u2019s not.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people pay attention (in Toronto), but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s different than any other place. The greatest difference, I think, from the experience of playing in both places \u2014 and I\u2019m not just pandering to you because I\u2019ve said this before \u2014 both are historically great franchises. I\u2019m from Toronto and grew up with my dad taking me to Toronto Maple Leaf games. I don\u2019t know if they were my favourite team or not, but I was around them a lot. The second I walked in the Montreal dressing room \u2014 the second! \u2014 you could feel the history and the legacy of the Canadiens and the players who have played there more than I ever felt \u2014 ever! \u2014 in my years in Toronto. And that includes the four years I played there, the time growing up there and I played in the last game at Maple Leaf Gardens, so I was involved in some historical stuff. And it never carried the weight that the Montreal Canadiens and their players and their history carried. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s the coolest part of Montreal. You can\u2019t escape it and you don\u2019t want to.\u201d<\/p>\n
On having St. Louis as a teammate for one season with the Lightning in 2000-01:<\/p>\n
\u201cMarty was a fourth-liner and was killing penalties. He came over from Calgary and was the lowest-paid player in the league. I think he was making like $220,000 Canadian or something. It was wild.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember when he showed up and I knew of Marty from college when he was the best player in university (at the University of Vermont). Him and Brendan Morrison (at the University of Michigan) were the two best players (in the NCAA) the four years we were at school together.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember thinking (St. Louis) doesn\u2019t get played like he\u2019s the best player (with the Lightning). He doesn\u2019t get the opportunity. But two things sort of stood out. One was his relentless drive and pushing of himself. Even in games where he might be on the fourth line and play 10 minutes, you could feel him burning for more out of himself, out of his opportunity, out of the team. A team that he didn\u2019t play a big role on initially and he was still demanding of everyone and everything around him \u2014 in a good way, in an inspiring way. I was like: \u2018OK, that\u2019s unusual for a 24-year-old fourth-liner who was just on waivers, who was 5-foot-7 in an era where 5-foot-7 was hard to come by.\u2019 <\/p>\n
\u201cThere was that and then he\u2019s uniquely built. When you see him in equipment you think: \u2018Oh, he\u2019s just short.\u2019 And then you see him in gym shorts and you\u2019re like: \u2018Oh, my God! He\u2019s built like a fire hydrant. He\u2019s so strong.\u2019 So when you would play against him in practice \u2014 even before you saw what he did in games \u2014 I was like: \u2018I can\u2019t corral this guy. I can\u2019t get my hands around him because he\u2019s so strong and shifty and lower centre of gravity.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went out to dinner about eight guys one night and Marty wasn\u2019t with us that night. We were just shooting the breeze. He had been on the team for about three weeks. We were talking about him and how good he was. He was just playing a small role and we were like: \u2018Is he the best small player you\u2019ve ever played with?\u2019 And were were all like: \u2018Yeah, he is.\u2019 All of the stuff that made him great you could see it almost immediately. He just needed more time for the coaches to kind of get over the biases of his short height to give him the opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he went in there and said: \u2018Listen, Steve Ludzik (the head coach), put me with Vinny (Vincent Lecavalier) and Richie (Brad Richards). Let me play and I won\u2019t let you down. Just give me a chance. What do you have to lose? We\u2019re in last place. Just give me a look.\u2019 And then he gets his look and he never looked back. He was off and running.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTorts (John Tortorella) took over (as head coach) and then Torts and Marty and Vinny and Richie had this sort of triumvirate relationship together where they all were alpha guys, all different personalities. And once they figured it out \u2014 especially Vinny and Torts \u2014 they sort of all brought out the best of each other and they were all really good for each other. I think all those things sort of came together. The team got better, he got an opportunity and was playing with good players. But Torts and Vinny and Brad Richards and Marty all had a real unique sort of relationship between all of them and each other that brought out the best in them.\u201d<\/p>\n
On St. Louis now coaching the Canadiens:<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it was the second press conference I went to with Marty (as coach) and he\u2019s very eloquent with his phrasing and how he explains things and thought provoking and I really appreciate that out of anybody. But I didn\u2019t see as much of that when he played (chuckles). It was more sort of fire and brimstone and some swear words and very passionate, but less composed and not a great orator. I told him: \u2018Marty, you could not be more like a coach. I don\u2019t know where this guy came from, but it\u2019s beautiful. I love to listen to you talk.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw some of that stuff and I thought he\u2019s got a chance (to succeed as a coach). He\u2019s smart enough and it matters enough and he\u2019s good enough that he\u2019s got a chance to be good and he\u2019s become really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Would he have any interest in also becoming a coach?<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. No. I don\u2019t have the patience for that. Coaching\u2019s hard. Everything in the NHL is hard, but coaching is a grind. It is a time commitment that people don\u2019t appreciate. It\u2019s not just charters and lobster tails. It\u2019s 14-hour days and living and dying with things that are out of your control. No. Management, yes. Coaching, no.<\/p>\n
\u201cI popped into the coach\u2019s office after the Tampa game (on Tuesday, which the Canadiens won 4-1 over the Lightning) because it was my last Montreal game (this season) and I just wanted top say goodbye and good luck. Vinny was in there and we\u2019re joking around and I said: \u2018This is the difference in our lives. Vinny, you look like you should be modelling for Hugo Boss \u2026 you look unbelievable because you\u2019re a consultant (for the Canadiens) from Florida. You see what happens when you become a head coach? Look at Marty\u2019s hair \u2026 he\u2019s got so much grey in it he doesn\u2019t know what to do with himself.\u2019 And then I pointed at Kent (Hughes) and I say: \u2018You become a GM and look what happens to his hair. It disappears.\u2019 <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not easy. It\u2019s a challenge to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Would he have any interest in an NHL management job, possibly with the Maple Leafs after they fired general manager Brad Treliving on Monday?<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah. I get asked this occasionally. I say: \u2018I love what I do now and I\u2019m not necessarily looking to leave it. But I would be curious, yeah.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cSure, if Keith Pelley (the president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment) called me we would have a conversation and I think I could make a presentation as to what I would do if I was offered a role in that capacity. I\u2019ve always sort of been curious as to what that would feel like and the challenge of whether I could be good at it. I\u2019d like to think I would be, but you never know until you try it. I\u2019m at the point now where my daughters are older and out of the house and you\u2019re more mobile, which is part of the challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things I didn\u2019t like about playing was the uncertainty of your future. I struggled with that. I didn\u2019t have any trade protection, so you kind of always felt on edge \u2014 whether it was good, bad or whatever. And there\u2019s an element of management that has that as well. You\u2019re sort of at the mercy of the team and the owner and everything else, so that is a bit different. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut, long story short, yeah. I would be curious to see what that would look like, sure.\u201d<\/p>\n