Erik Johnson still calls Denver home

Erik Johnson may be moving on to the Buffalo Sabres but Denver is home for him. And he had an entertaining radio interview about his time with the Avalanche.

The Avalanche’s longest-tenured player, Erik Johnson, is moving on to the Buffalo Sabres but not without saying a heartfelt goodbye and giving his fans a good laugh.

Johnson, who was traded to the Colorado Avalanche from the St. Louis Blues in February of 2011, took out a full-page ad in the Denver Post for a sincere farewell to the city of Denver and Avs Faithful.

While the defenseman known as "EJ" by most, was well aware that not many people read or get the actual paper anymore, he wanted to do something from the heart.

“You know what I just, I feel like everyone kind of does the Twitter or Instagram posts, you know thanks the team, and then that being said, can’t wait to join my new team, and I just wanted to be authentic and genuine and I felt like that was a good way to do it,” EJ told Marc Moser, Vic Lombardi and Brett Kane on Altitude Sports Radio Thursday morning.

He did still post on Twitter and Instagram but the old-school print ad was something the player who spent more than a dozen years in Denver wanted to do.

EJ has suffered many injuries in his long career, and a bad concussion limited him to only four games in the shortened 2020-21 COVID season.

After that injury, he contemplated retirement. He told the guys on Altitude Sports Radio that he had trade offers on the table, but they were to teams on his no-trade list. So he turned down two offers but decided to stick around. As luck may have it, he finally won a Stanley Cup with the team in 2022.

EJ said he wasn’t offered a new contract to stay with the Avalanche when his current one expired at the end of this past season but has no ill will toward the team. He said on the show that he understands it's business and he’s grateful to have been with Colorado for as long as he was.

Every team does some pretty crazy stuff with the Stanley Cup after winning it, but the Avs were quite unique in their celebrations. 

EJ was most notable for posting a photo on social media of him cuddling shirtless with the Cup in his bed. He also took it to the Avs practice facility on a last-minute whim which drew hundreds, maybe thousands of fans. 

EJ said on the radio show that he got up at 6 a.m., after partying the night before, to start the Stanley Cup parade party with a couple of bloody marys. Then he said he had some more at the golf course, beers at the rink and then his friend gave him a bottle of Don Julio 1942 tequila. Which turned out to be a lifesaver after they ran out of booze on the truck, he said. 

“We would signal the fans to throw beers and then it was like a sea of like grenades. Cause every fan thinks you’re looking at them to throw a beer, and we’re like shielding ourselves.

“I saved Nate’s (MacKinnon) life, I’m not kidding. He had a frickin’ beer coming in so hot and I made like a backhanded, one-handed snag. It would’ve been bad,” EJ said.

He said he and two other players were the only three that lasted from 7 a.m. to 3 a.m. through the celebration that day. 

EJ was lucky when he chose not to retire and ended up winning a Cup, but his luck when he lost his teeth was the complete opposite. He explained the series of events leading up to and after the incident on the radio show. 

His timeline started with him putting the puck in his own net in a game against the Calgary Flames when he was with the Blues. A couple of days later, he lost his teeth in practice which required a lot of work and should have kept him out of the game the following day. But instead, he played and took a skate to the mouth. The next day, he got traded to the Avs.

“So — shot the puck in my own net, lost all my teeth, traded,” EJ said on the sports show.

He said he’ll eventually get them fixed but Avs Faithful will always remember and miss EJ’s toothless grin, no matter where he’s playing.