Johnson blocking out the noise
His surprise rise to Calgary’s top goalie is all the talk, but he’s staying focused on his game
It should come as no surprise that Chad Johnson’s recent performances for the Calgary Flames have made him the talk of the town.
Of course, that could change quickly. These are the way things go in pro sports and particularly with goaltending, a fickle position that can be the reason teams win Stanley Cups or struggle horribly.
Johnson gets it. He also understands the role of modern-day media and its constant need to find stories, content and interesting anecdotes.
And the only way to handle the chatter — good or bad — is to ignore it. His wife Alexandra, however. … “She is all over that stuff,” Johnson said with a chuckle the other day. “She loves it. I never want to listen to my interviews or talks. She pays attention to it and everyone is excited. They can enjoy all of that stuff. My wife sort of gives me a hard time about it. But I’m sure they follow it.
“They just know it does nothing for me.” Just look at his numbers. Blocking out the outside chatter has allowed Johnson to make 14 well-earned starts for the Flames. With a 9-4-0-1 record, a 2.05 goalsagainst average (among the NHL’s top 10 heading into action Saturday), and a .930 save percentage, things are definitely on the upswing — finally — in the Calgary crease.
“When he’s in the net, he considers himself the No. 1 guy,” Flames goalie coach Jordan Sigalet said. “Whether that’s one game in every 10 or night in and night out. He has a very evenkeeled personality. You can see it on the ice. He doesn’t get fazed by anything. “You can see our guys feed off it.” Publicly, the Flames haven’t officially named Johnson their starter, although he’s been the man in goal for six of their last eight games. A sensible move, because they still have Brian Elliott, who they believe is capable to do the job if needed. Johnson is hot, so why not? Truth be told, this opportunity — the opportunity to be a No. 1 — has been a long time coming for the 30-year-old Johnson. His journey to becoming the first Calgary-born Flames goaltender since Mike Vernon has been filled with too many address changes to remember.
After playing for the Calgary Buffaloes in midget, he played for the Brooks Bandits, University of Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks, the University of Alaska, the New York Rangers, Hartford Wolfpack, Connecticut Whale, then-Phoenix Coyotes, Boston Bruins, New York Islanders and Buffalo Sabres.
His story and his incredible run is headline news right now. But of course, Johnson has no idea. “I don’t really focus on the outside stuff away from hockey,” he said. “I’m a little older now and I just don’t really care about the media. I respect the media, but I just don’t really care about it. It’s not really my focus.
“I always make sure my focus is always hockey and preparing for the next day. I just want to make sure I’m improving every day and my mind is where it’s supposed to be.”
The Flames knew they were solidifying their crease when they signed Johnson during free agency. He caught their eye during a late run for the Sabres, a run noticed by many.
“I thought he was pretty damn good last year,” Minnesota Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk said earlier this week. “No one really said anything about it. With him, he’s very calm, very technical … his rebounds are good, he’s never out of position. And as his team learns to play defensively, that’s just going to put him at more of an advantage. The better the guys in front of him will play. And vice versa.” True enough. Calgary has tightened up its goalsagainst average as a team to 2.89, which (heading into Saturday) was 22nd in the NHL.
It’s enough to wonder if Johnson is going to be the next Dubnyk, whose ascension to one of the NHL’s elite happened in 2015 when the Wild took a chance on him. He took the ball and ran with it, backstopping the Wild in the post-season and earning a Vezina Trophy nomination in the process.
Dubnyk had some advice for his fellow Calgarian.
“There were two things. I wanted to make sure I was enjoying it and taking it all in, not just pretending like it wasn’t happening. I felt like that allowed me to be a part of it and feel good about myself and continue to play.
“The other thing was trying to simplify as much as I could, as to why things were going well. I was able to find a list of things that were allowing me to feel good every game. It could be the simplest of things. Angles or where I was in my crease. Everybody is a little bit different.”