For ‘Mr. Game 7,’ a brand new role
3-time Cup champ Williams signs on with NHL Network
DENVER — “Mr. Game 7” is back in the Stanley Cup Final, but in a much different role than before.
Three-time champion and 2014 playoff MVP Justin Williams is joining NHL Network as a guest analyst for Games 3 and 4 between the Avalanche and Lightning.
“It’s easy to talk hockey — it’s all I know,” Williams told The AP by phone Sunday. “I know hockey. I’ve been through a lot of experiences. You feel you can give people the best insight you can as to what’s going on in the locker room and what players are thinking and kind of hopefully what needs to be done.”
Williams, who won the Cup with the Hurricanes in 2006 and Kings in 2012 and ’14, is best known for his Game 7 heroics. He recorded an NHL-record 15 points, and his team went 8-1 in those games.
He entered this series for Game 3 on Monday night in Tampa with the dominant Avalanche up 2-0 on the two-time defending champion Lightning.
Game 3 ended too late for this edition. “One team’s been really good, and the other team has yet to show what they can do,” Williams said. “You fully expect a bounce-back performance and more of a game than what we saw in Game 2.”
Talking hockey is no problem for the 40-year-old who’s still connected to the game as a coach for his kids and adviser for the Hurricanes. Happy with his decision to hang up his skates in 2020, Williams’ new TV teammates are fellow retired players Mike Johnson and Mike Rupp and host Jamison Coyle, who have a combined 2,786 games of NHL experience and four Cup rings among them.
“With those guys, it’ll be a piece of cake and I expect it to flow real well,” Williams said. “You try and make your point and get in, get out, have them carry it and then if I have something thoughtful that I think is interesting to add to the group, I will certainly do it.”
Outside family and professional hockey obligations, Williams is playing a lot of golf and tennis and enjoying post-playing life in the Raleigh-Durham area.
When approached about a TV role, he figured it would be next season and jumped at the opportunity to make a cameo appearance in the Stanley Cup Final.
“I looked at the schedule and figured I could do it and said why the heck not,” he said. “I dip my toe in everything and kind of see what I want to do when I grow up.”
The graduate
In between delivering checks on the ice, Jack Johnson hit the books just as hard.
The 35-year-old Avalanche defenseman earned his general studies degree this spring from the University of Michigan. Just part of a rewarding stretch for Johnson, who after five teams and more than 1,000 NHL games finally reached the Stanley Cup Final.
“Let’s see, that (degree) takes me 18 years?” Johnson joked on Saturday. “Most people are at least a doctor at that point.”
His graduation fulfilled a promise not only to himself but one he made to Red Berenson, his coach at Michigan for two seasons (2005-07).
“I called him as soon as I (finished my degree),” said Johnson, who attended training camp with the Avs on a professional tryout before signing a one-year deal with the team Oct. 10. “(Finishing) was just a big thing for myself.
“As a kid I grew up dreaming of playing hockey at Michigan. I wanted to graduate from there — No. 1-ranked public school in the country. So it meant a lot to me.”
Johnson said he chipped away at his degree over the years by taking classes online in the spring when his team didn’t make the postseason.
“It’s incredibly special,” Johnson said of this year’s run and making the final. “You never know if you’re going to get an opportunity to play for it. We’ve worked so hard this year to get to this point where we now have an opportunity.”
In March, Johnson appeared in his 1,000th NHL game to become the 21st U.S.born blueliner to reach that mark.