Penguins sign veteran goalie Brent Johnson

by Hooks Orpik on Jul 21, 2009 1:29 PM EDT in News Comment 10 comments

The Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins have signed goaltender Brent Johnson to a one-year contract, it was announced today by Executive Vice President and General Manager Ray Shero.

Johnson, 32, played 21 games with the Washington Capitals, finishing with a record of 12-6-2 during the 2008-09 season. The veteran goaltender recorded a .908 save percentage along with a 2.81 goals-against average.

Salary details to follow once announced, but expect them to be low.

Johnson's a great addition for the Penguins, with 240 NHL games and parts of nine seasons under his belt, Johnny's been around the block a time or too. Johnny also provides a measure of comfort knowing that if Marc-Andre Fleury gets injured for the third consectutive season, the top two goalies in the organization won't be John Curry and Brad Thiessen (combined NHL experience: 2 starts).

Johnson's record is 17-12-2 in the past two seasons, so he is a guy who can come in and be expected to play well on night's when Fleury needs a rest. Johnson's battled some injuries lately and hasn't been able to stay 100% healthy in Washington. So even though he can come in and do a respectable job, he does have some durability concerns of his own.

Another interesting, yet to be seen development will be if the Pens plan on allowing Curry and Johnson to have an open competition for the backup job. Would they risk exposing Johnson to waivers before the season starts if the younger Curry proves to have a stronger training camp? We'll see how it plays out, but Pittsburgh has done well to fill a potentially crippling hole in the depth chart with the signing of Brent Johnson.

As an aside, JP and I are informally tracking all the NHL players who've been teammates of Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. Johnny becomes the fourth man in the club, joining Matt Cooke, Rico Fata and Kris Beech. I still contend that Beech's inclusion is unwarranted, since he and Crosby never appeared in a game together, but they were techinically on the same team for a period of time, so we'll count it.

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he’s a pretty solid backup. Good signing!

by Shorty055 on Jul 21, 2009 1:39 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Does anyone know the status of John Curry? I know he was an RFA, but I don’t think the Pens have resigned him yet. Personally, I would love the see him stay.

by xaryss on Jul 21, 2009 2:23 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

If he does stay the signing of Johnson makes it probable that he’ll coninue to play down in Wilkes-Barre Scranton. The only way he would see time up with the big club would be spot duty as an emergency call-up if either Fleury or Johnson went down with an injury at some point.

by kellyn on Jul 21, 2009 2:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

The Penguins did re-sign Curry last week (they announced it in conjunction with Ben Lovejoy).

I believe that news broke on July 15th, which is the date players have to accept qualifying offers. So it’s never been confirmed but more than likely I’d bet Curry accepted his QO.

Pensburgh.com -- it's like the Max Talbot of blogs*

*not just because we only work for 12 minutes a night

by Hooks Orpik on Jul 21, 2009 2:34 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I only saw where they resigned Tim Wallace with Ben Lovejoy, not Curry.

by xaryss on Jul 21, 2009 3:24 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Good call xar, I’m getting pulled in a lot of different directions today but you’re right.

Curry remains unsigned, but I would fully expect the Pens to bring him back in the fold at some point soon.

Pensburgh.com -- it's like the Max Talbot of blogs*

*not just because we only work for 12 minutes a night

by Hooks Orpik on Jul 21, 2009 3:32 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I’m a fan. He’s capable of playing a sufficient backup role, but wasn’t he hurt a lot last season? Or was that the year before? I guess as far as backups go I’ll take him. It gives some more time for Curry to work on his game down in WBS to one day step up as a backup for the pens.

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by FrankD on Jul 21, 2009 3:00 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Courtesy of a comment at Japers Rink here’s Johnson’s injury history:

Johnson’s injury history…

13-May-09 Missed 30 regular season and 14 playoff games (hip surgery).
27-Jan-09 Missed 2 games (undisclosed).
01-Jan-09 Missed 3 games (illness).
10-Jan-08 Missed 5 games (knee injury) and assigned to Hershey (AHL).
08-Feb-07 Missed 4 games (undisclosed).
04-Jan-06 Missed 2 games (groin).
11-Mar-03 Missed 5 games (groin).
04-Dec-02 Missed 24 games (sprained ankle).
09-Apr-02 Missed 1 game (hip injury).
24-Nov-01 Missed 1 game (flu).
29-Jan-01 Missed 3 games (Knee injury).

So yeah, durability has been an issue.

But Johnson’s only played three games in the calender year 2009 (and none after Feb 1) and I believe he had surgery sometime in February….He ought to be fresh and as close to 100% as imaginable come October.

Pensburgh.com -- it's like the Max Talbot of blogs*

*not just because we only work for 12 minutes a night

by Hooks Orpik on Jul 21, 2009 3:05 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'll somewhat agree

The guy seems capable and I think the list of his missing games is a bit misleading. Yeah, the hip surgery is big, but everything else seems like nickle and dime stuff (and a sprained ankle 7 years ago) that happens over a long season. If he’s recovered well from the hip surgery, and the Pens signing leads me to believe that at least they think he has/is, then I wouldn’t worry too much about his role as a back-up and durability.

by Smooth555 on Jul 21, 2009 3:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs