Adam Johnson played 13 NHL games with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and his former teammates remember his time there.

The entire hockey world has taken time to mourn the loss of former Pittsburgh Penguins forward Adam Johnson after he lost his life during a game in the United Kingdom’s EIHL.

Johnson played 13 games with the Penguins between the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons and still has a smattering of teammates donning black and gold.

Defenseman P.O. Joseph played with Johnson quite a bit at the AHL level with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, and remembers their time together fondly.

“Adam was such a joyful person,” Joseph said. “The way he carried himself, just a happy person in general. We’ll miss him.”

That particular group of players in the WBS locker room at the time was a tight group and everyone brought so much joy to the game.

“He’s a good jokester, he likes to bring a smile to everyone in the room,” Joseph said. “Every day was full of good memories with him.”

Mike Sullivan was Johnson’s only coach at the NHL level and struggled to come up with words to describe how he and many others are feeling.

“I don’t know if I have words to explain the whole circumstance,” Sullivan said. “It’s just an incredible tragedy. He’s a terrific kid, it was a privilege to be his coach… I remember his first goal in Minnesota. He was a great kid and a good player. Boy, he could really skate. There are no words I have to explain how I feel about it.”

Johnson scored only one goal in the NHL and did it in his home state against the Minnesota Wild with a number of friends and family members in the crowd.

In looking back at Johnson’s playing days, quite a few had great things to say about his skating ability, and Penguins captain Sidney Crosby recognized that.

“The way he skated,” Crosby said. “There are some guys that when you get out there with them can flat out fly. And he was one of them.”

Crosby also remembered the moment Johnson scored his first goal, but also spoke on how excited and ready he was to play in the NHL.

“Had an awesome attitude while he was here,” Crosby said. “Just genuinely happy to be playing in the NHL. It’s heartbreaking.”

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