Erik Johnson All Star
Colorado Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson has been named to the NHL All Star team. Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports
Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson was the best player for the first half of the season. Head coach Patrick Roy praised him highly — calling him the best player on the team — and predicted Johnson would be invited to the All Star Weekend. Indeed, on January 11, 2015, Johnson was named to the All Star team.
For me I saw it as a culmination of years of hard work and disappointments for EJ. He is such a talented and skilled player, but he’s had some bad breaks in his career. Alas, he suffered another bad break as arthroscopic knee surgery prevented him from being able to attend the weekend’s activities.
At the beginning of the 2014-15 Avalanche season, though, Johnson showed his true capabilities — an ability to dominate games, to both score goals and prevent them, to play the big minutes against the big lines and help the Avs succeed against them. Johnson is sure to be nominated as an All Star again.