Veteran defenseman sees similarities between rising Sabres and Avalanche of a few years ago
BUFFALO – Erik Johnson is entering familiar territory after signing with the Buffalo Sabres.
The defenseman, who signed a one-year, $3.25 million contract in the opening hour of free agency, sees similarities between his new team and his time with the Colorado Avalanche, his hockey home for the past 13 seasons.
“Playing against them the last few years, they remind me of Colorado a few years prior when we were building it,” he said. “They have a great nucleus of young talent and I think they’re knocking at the door. It was a real appealing spot to me to go there and help in any way I can. I think it’s a team that’s really close. I was excited that they were really interested. They were definitely the most aggressive team. I could just tell they really wanted me and that was why I ended up signing here.”
While he’d hoped to stay in Colorado, he understood their decision to move on. Johnson, 35, said he had “five or six options.” He contacted past teammates for some insight on the teams he was considering. All pointed out the Sabres, who finished one point behind the Florida Panthers for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference, are on the rise. And when it came time to make a decision, Buffalo was “right at the top of the list” for him.
“That’s not a secret anymore. People know that the Sabres are coming,” said Johnson, who’s known Kyle Okposo since he was eight years old and played with Tyson Jost in Colorado. “Whether it’s this year, next year – I don’t know how soon it’s going to be – I just feel it’s a team that’s going to contend for a long time.”
It’s a process that’s been cultivated by general manager Kevyn Adams. And as his team shifts into playoff contender, he’s thought a lot about what he needs to do to ensure his group has the best chance to succeed. Signing Johnson (6-foot-4, 225 pounds), who’s played 920 NHL games and another 55 in the playoffs, is a part of that.
“Am I insulating them enough with good hockey players and just the right kind of people?” Adams said. “You know how strongly I feel about Zemgus (Girgensons) and Kyle. But have we done enough? I felt strongly that we needed to do a little more there. Erik Johnson fit that perfectly. I just think it’s an important piece. Sometimes even, however long Erik is with us, it can go for so many more years after just because these young players won’t forget those lessons. That’s something that was really important.”
The No. 1 pick by the St. Louis Blues in the 2006 NHL Draft, Johnson was traded to the Avalanche in February 2011. They finished in the bottom third of the standings in four of his first five seasons in Colorado, including second to last in 2012-13 and last place in 2016-17.
From 2017-18 on, they began to rise and made the playoffs yearly. But while they’d taken that next step, they couldn’t make it past the second round, even in 2020-21 when they finished first in the NHL.
Then, last season, they finally broke through and won the Stanley Cup.
“I always thought experience was overrated, but once you go through it, you realize how hard it is,” Johnson said. “You need a lot of luck, you need a lot of things to go right, but once you go through it, you realize the grind. … There’s nothing like that experience you get from going through that process of playing in the playoffs and playing in the Final. There’s so many ups and downs, and ebbs and flows to seasons and series and playoffs and games. I think I can help any way I can. Having that experience of the playoffs and going through the Finals and winning the Cup will be good. With a young team, just having some experience to lean on will be valuable.”
The Sabres haven’t qualified for the playoffs since 2011. Their 12-year drought is the longest active drought in the NHL and the longest in league history. They're one of the youngest teams in the league and one with minimal playoff experience in the NHL. That they were so close this past season left a bitter taste in the players’ mouths at the end of the season.
“If this team can get in the playoffs, I think a lot of teams really wouldn’t want to play us,” Johnson said. “It’s a fast team, a skilled team, they can play any way you want. It’s a contending team. Guys around the league know that and that’s one of the reasons I wanted to sign here. I just feel like it’s a team that’s real close.”