Craig Johnson

Craig Thomas Johnson (born March 18, 1972) is an American ice hockey player who played 10 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted 33rd overall by the St. Louis Blues in the 1990 NHL entry draft and went on to play 557 games in the NHL for the St. Louis Blues, Los Angeles Kings, Toronto Maple Leafs, Washington Capitals and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

Internationally Johnson played for the American national team in several World Championships and the 1994 Winter Olympics.

Playing career Johnson made his NHL debut during the 1994–95 season with St. Louis. He scored the first goal at the Kiel Center when it opened in 1995. On February 27, 1996, Johnson was traded with Patrice Tardif, Roman Vopat, and two draft picks to the Los Angeles Kings for Wayne Gretzky. He remained a King for another seven seasons through the 2002–03 season. During his tenure with the Kings, he wore number 23, making him the penultimate player to wear the number until it was retired for Dustin Brown in 2023.

He signed as a free agent with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks for the 2003–04 season. He spent half a season with Anaheim until being claimed off waivers by the Toronto Maple Leafs. Two months later, he was again claimed off waivers by the Washington Capitals, where he finished the season.

Johnson moved to Germany's Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL), signing with the Hamburg Freezers. After one season he signed with the DEG Metro Stars in Düsseldorf where he spent two seasons. In 2007, Johnson moved to Austria and signed with Red Bull Salzberg.

Johnson returned to the Orange County area and coached youth hockey at Santa Margarita Catholic High School and for the Anaheim Jr Ducks youth team. He was an assistant coach for the Ontario Reign in 2010–11 and joined the player development staff for the Los Angeles Kings in 2018. He returned to the Reign, now in the AHL, as assistant coach in 2020. He is working as co-head coach of the Reign with Chris Hajt.

Personal life His son Ryan, a defenseman, was drafted in the first round by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2019 NHL Draft - he is currently a member of the Buffalo Sabres

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs Regular seasonPlayoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1987–88 Hill-Murray School HS-MN 28 14 20 34 4 — — — — — 1988–89 Hill-Murray School HS-MN 24 22 30 52 10 — — — — — 1989–90 Hill-Murray School HS-MN 23 15 36 51 0 — — — — — 1990–91 University of Minnesota WCHA 33 13 18 31 34 — — — — — 1991–92 University of Minnesota WCHA 44 19 39 58 70 — — — — — 1992–93 University of Minnesota WCHA 42 22 24 46 68 — — — — — 1992–93 Jacksonville Bullets SuHL 23 2 9 11 38 — — — — — 1993–94 United States National Team Intl 54 25 26 51 64 — — — — — 1994–95 Peoria Rivermen IHL 16 2 6 8 25 9 0 4 4 10 1994–95 St. Louis Blues NHL 15 3 3 6 6 1 0 0 0 2 1995–96 Worcester IceCats AHL 5 3 0 3 2 — — — — — 1995–96 St. Louis Blues NHL 49 8 7 15 30 — — — — — 1995–96 Los Angeles Kings NHL 11 5 4 9 6 — — — — — 1996–97 Los Angeles Kings NHL 31 4 3 7 26 — — — — — 1997–98 Los Angeles Kings NHL 74 17 21 38 42 4 1 0 1 4 1998–99 Los Angeles Kings NHL 69 7 12 19 32 — — — — — 1999–00 Los Angeles Kings NHL 76 9 14 23 28 4 1 0 1 2 2000–01 Los Angeles Kings NHL 26 4 5 9 16 — — — — — 2001–02 Los Angeles Kings NHL 72 13 14 27 24 7 1 2 3 2 2002–03 Los Angeles Kings NHL 70 3 6 9 22 — — — — — 2003–04 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim NHL 39 1 2 3 14 — — — — — 2003–04 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 10 1 1 2 6 — — — — — 2003–04 Washington Capitals NHL 15 0 6 6 8 — — — — — 2004–05 Hamburg Freezers DEL 42 19 25 44 56 — — — — — 2005–06 DEG Metro Stars DEL 25 11 2 13 48 13 8 5 13 40 2006–07 DEG Metro Stars DEL 50 19 19 38 83 9 3 2 5 20 2007–08 EC Salzburg AUT 23 3 6 9 30 14 2 5 7 32 NHL totals 557 75 98 173 260 16 3 2 5 10

International Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM 1991 United States WJC 2 0 2 2 0 1993 United States WC 6 1 1 2 4 1994 United States OLY 8 0 4 4 4 1996 United States WC 6 1 1 2 2 1999 United States WC 6 0 3 3 0 2003 United States WC 6 2 2 4 8 Junior totals 2 0 2 2 0 Senior totals 32 4 11 15 18

Awards and honors Award Year(s) All-WCHA Rookie Team 1990–91 WCHA All-Tournament Team 1992, 1993