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Erik Johnson Retrospective

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 11:02 am
by Oates2Hullie450
So by pure coincidence the YouTube algorithm recommended some old Blues highlights from the 2006-10 era for me earlier, and it got me thinking about Erik Johnson. Post lockout/05-06 was an era where I frankly just wasn't paying much attention to the team before I sort of came back as a fan during the 08-09 playoff run after the backup goalie went crazy and replaced the established starter in net (sound familiar?).

Anyways, for those who were still tuning in to games as much as feasibly possible during the early days of the rebuild, how did the fanbase feel about the events surrounding EJ? The team taking him first overall in hopes of him becoming the next cornerstone D-man, him going back to college after being drafted, his rookie year, the golf cart incident. What was it like to be a fan at that point and watch his stock keep falling in the five years between him being drafted and the trade with Colorado?

Re: Erik Johnson Retrospective

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 11:11 am
by Dave's a mess
Oates2Hullie450 wrote: Thu May 21, 2020 11:02 am So by pure coincidence the YouTube algorithm recommended some old Blues highlights from the 2006-10 era for me earlier, and it got me thinking about Erik Johnson. Post lockout/05-06 was an era where I frankly just wasn't paying much attention to the team before I sort of came back as a fan during the 08-09 playoff run after the backup goalie went crazy and replaced the established starter in net (sound familiar?).

Anyways, for those who were still tuning in to games as much as feasibly possible during the early days of the rebuild, how did the fanbase feel about the events surrounding EJ? The team taking him first overall in hopes of him becoming the next cornerstone D-man, him going back to college after being drafted, his rookie year, the golf cart incident. What was it like to be a fan at that point and watch his stock keep falling in the five years between him being drafted and the trade with Colorado?
It fucking sucked.



I'll leave the elaboration to others.

Re: Erik Johnson Retrospective

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 11:31 am
by BillP.
I enjoyed the youth movement and watching them rebuild. But Erik Johnson was such bad luck for the Blues. If we didn't win the Cup last year, we as fans would still be harping about all the "what ifs" this franchise has endured during its history, and getting stuck with Erik Johnson as our first pick is one of them. You had Crosby and Ovechkin as No. 1 picks before EJ, and then Kane, Stamkos and Tavares after him. I mean, give me a break.

Re: Erik Johnson Retrospective

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 11:38 am
by MissouriMook
The anticipation was certainly there, but we were still pretty bad the first couple of years. The golf cart accident? Well, seemed pretty "typical Blues" at the time.

Re: Erik Johnson Retrospective

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 11:43 am
by NHLTIM
Hated the pick from the git go....I knew he was never going to change the franchise and I had been very high on Phil Kessel for two years before and never guessed we’d have a shot at him. Shit falls apart and all the sudden we have a legit shot at my boy Phil Kessel and then this asshat comes out of nowhere and no more Phil Kessel. It wasn’t going to be Kessel anyway ...it was gonna be EJ or Jordan Staal when the Blues picked. What i can’t figure out for the life of me though is they made many trips to Nodak to check in on Oshie....how does Toews not win you over at that point?
EJ just didn’t work out, he was into the party scene when he got here and then there was the MacInnis driveway incident, the golf cart incident and then he just never did shit when on the actual ice.
This pic is what sums up the EJ era on the Blues

Re: Erik Johnson Retrospective

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 11:47 am
by BillP.
NHLTIM wrote: Thu May 21, 2020 11:43 am Hated the pick from the git go....I knew he was never going to change the franchise and I had been very high on Phil Kessel for two years before and never guessed we’d have a shot at him. Shit falls apart and all the sudden we have a legit shot at my boy Phil Kessel and then this asshat comes out of nowhere and no more Phil Kessel. It wasn’t going to be Kessel anyway ...it was gonna be EJ or Jordan Staal when the Blues picked. What i can’t figure out for the life of me though is they made many trips to Nodak to check in on Oshie....how does Toews not win you over at that point?
EJ just didn’t work out, he was into the party scene when he got here and then there was the MacInnis driveway incident, the golf cart incident and then he just never did shit when on the actual ice.
This pic is what sums up the EJ era on the Blues
Jordan Staal would of sucked too. Yeah, you got Oshie, why not the interest in Toews? Kessel would of been great. Backstrom would of been good. But no, we got EJ. Nice save on Army's part in getting Shattenkirk and Stewart for him.

Re: Erik Johnson Retrospective

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 11:57 am
by BluesSK
NHLTIM wrote: Thu May 21, 2020 11:43 am Hated the pick from the git go....I knew he was never going to change the franchise and I had been very high on Phil Kessel for two years before and never guessed we’d have a shot at him. Shit falls apart and all the sudden we have a legit shot at my boy Phil Kessel and then this asshat comes out of nowhere and no more Phil Kessel. It wasn’t going to be Kessel anyway ...it was gonna be EJ or Jordan Staal when the Blues picked. What i can’t figure out for the life of me though is they made many trips to Nodak to check in on Oshie....how does Toews not win you over at that point?
EJ just didn’t work out, he was into the party scene when he got here and then there was the MacInnis driveway incident, the golf cart incident and then he just never did shit when on the actual ice.
This pic is what sums up the EJ era on the Blues
Things really wnet south when he left the Hardee's autograph signing early.

That was the turning point right there.

Re: Erik Johnson Retrospective

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 12:08 pm
by NHLTIM
BluesSK wrote: Thu May 21, 2020 11:57 am
NHLTIM wrote: Thu May 21, 2020 11:43 am Hated the pick from the git go....I knew he was never going to change the franchise and I had been very high on Phil Kessel for two years before and never guessed we’d have a shot at him. Shit falls apart and all the sudden we have a legit shot at my boy Phil Kessel and then this asshat comes out of nowhere and no more Phil Kessel. It wasn’t going to be Kessel anyway ...it was gonna be EJ or Jordan Staal when the Blues picked. What i can’t figure out for the life of me though is they made many trips to Nodak to check in on Oshie....how does Toews not win you over at that point?
EJ just didn’t work out, he was into the party scene when he got here and then there was the MacInnis driveway incident, the golf cart incident and then he just never did shit when on the actual ice.
This pic is what sums up the EJ era on the Blues
Things really wnet south when he left the Hardee's autograph signing early.

That was the turning point right there.
Lol...I’ve heard bits and pieces of something like that but I never heard the full story

Re: Erik Johnson Retrospective

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 12:28 pm
by BillP.
BluesSK wrote: Thu May 21, 2020 11:57 am
NHLTIM wrote: Thu May 21, 2020 11:43 am Hated the pick from the git go....I knew he was never going to change the franchise and I had been very high on Phil Kessel for two years before and never guessed we’d have a shot at him. Shit falls apart and all the sudden we have a legit shot at my boy Phil Kessel and then this asshat comes out of nowhere and no more Phil Kessel. It wasn’t going to be Kessel anyway ...it was gonna be EJ or Jordan Staal when the Blues picked. What i can’t figure out for the life of me though is they made many trips to Nodak to check in on Oshie....how does Toews not win you over at that point?
EJ just didn’t work out, he was into the party scene when he got here and then there was the MacInnis driveway incident, the golf cart incident and then he just never did shit when on the actual ice.
This pic is what sums up the EJ era on the Blues
Things really wnet south when he left the Hardee's autograph signing early.

That was the turning point right there.
That's pretty bad. No wonder he's such an underachiever. Did the Blues really do their homework on him? Shit

Re: Erik Johnson Retrospective

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 12:45 pm
by Dave's a mess
BillP. wrote: Thu May 21, 2020 12:28 pm
BluesSK wrote: Thu May 21, 2020 11:57 am
NHLTIM wrote: Thu May 21, 2020 11:43 am Hated the pick from the git go....I knew he was never going to change the franchise and I had been very high on Phil Kessel for two years before and never guessed we’d have a shot at him. Shit falls apart and all the sudden we have a legit shot at my boy Phil Kessel and then this asshat comes out of nowhere and no more Phil Kessel. It wasn’t going to be Kessel anyway ...it was gonna be EJ or Jordan Staal when the Blues picked. What i can’t figure out for the life of me though is they made many trips to Nodak to check in on Oshie....how does Toews not win you over at that point?
EJ just didn’t work out, he was into the party scene when he got here and then there was the MacInnis driveway incident, the golf cart incident and then he just never did shit when on the actual ice.
This pic is what sums up the EJ era on the Blues
Things really wnet south when he left the Hardee's autograph signing early.

That was the turning point right there.
That's pretty bad. No wonder he's such an underachiever. Did the Blues really do their homework on him? Shit
If you put all 18 year old hockey players that like to party on your do not draft list you end up making 0 draft picks every year. I think the knee injury killed him. To illustrate, he's only put up more points than his rookie year twice in his career. He probably wouldn't have had a better career than Toews or Backstrom anyway, but hell, top 5 picks are good players generally speaking, haha.

Re: Erik Johnson Retrospective

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 1:19 pm
by Dread_Pirate_Westley
EJ got TJ Oshie into cocaine and that is why he was traded to Colorado

Re: Erik Johnson Retrospective

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 7:17 pm
by Oates2Hullie450
NHLTIM wrote: Thu May 21, 2020 11:43 am Hated the pick from the git go....I knew he was never going to change the franchise and I had been very high on Phil Kessel for two years before and never guessed we’d have a shot at him. Shit falls apart and all the sudden we have a legit shot at my boy Phil Kessel and then this asshat comes out of nowhere and no more Phil Kessel. It wasn’t going to be Kessel anyway ...it was gonna be EJ or Jordan Staal when the Blues picked. What i can’t figure out for the life of me though is they made many trips to Nodak to check in on Oshie....how does Toews not win you over at that point?
EJ just didn’t work out, he was into the party scene when he got here and then there was the MacInnis driveway incident, the golf cart incident and then he just never did shit when on the actual ice.
This pic is what sums up the EJ era on the Blues
I just knew that picture would somehow enter this thread.

Also, not sure if you've ever read "Future Greats and Heartbreaks" by Gare Joyce, pretty easy read but it has some nice anecdotes from scouts around the time of the 2006 draft. It touches on how Kessel was seen as the probable Number 1 going into the year and fell a bit as other passed him up. The What-Ifs really are moot at this point given the ultimate payoff 2019 was, but plug Kessel or Toews or even Backstrom into the Blues organization and say we draft the same through 2008 and you wonder if we ever might have crested sooner.

Re: Erik Johnson Retrospective

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 10:20 pm
by Mph6689
MacInnis driveway incident? I am unaware.

Re: Erik Johnson Retrospective

Posted: Fri May 22, 2020 4:31 pm
by UMSLBlues12
The EJ Hardee’s incident was the one that Billy Pilgram at the asylum lost his shit about, right? That was absolutely hilarious.

Re: Erik Johnson Retrospective

Posted: Fri May 22, 2020 4:51 pm
by Dave's a mess
Mph6689 wrote: Thu May 21, 2020 10:20 pm MacInnis driveway incident? I am unaware.
I haven't heard of this one either. I can only assume this is EJ doing a poor job of shoveling Al's driveway and gave up halfway through. Joke was on him though since it was a Mr. Miyagi like training tactic to help him unlock the power of Al's slapper.

Re: Erik Johnson Retrospective

Posted: Fri May 22, 2020 8:01 pm
by BluesSK
UMSLBlues12 wrote: Fri May 22, 2020 4:31 pm The EJ Hardee’s incident was the one that Billy Pilgram at the asylum lost his shit about, right? That was absolutely hilarious.
That was it. 😄

I'm glad somebody else remembers.

Re: Erik Johnson Retrospective

Posted: Sun May 24, 2020 5:48 pm
by CaptSMRT
Johnson was the wrong pick for the franchise. The Blues needed an exciting player to energize the fan base and they ended up going for a long term project to be the foundation for the future, which is asking too much of anyone.. The minute he opted to go back to college instead of playing in the NHL I knew this guy was a loser, history has not proven me wrong. The NHL is about scoring...teams at the bottom of the league need goals not dreams about the future.

Re: Erik Johnson Retrospective

Posted: Sun May 24, 2020 9:21 pm
by Dread_Pirate_Westley
We can bemoan the pick and say it was the wrong one but as Tim pointed out, the alternative at the time would've been Stahl.

Damned if they do, damned if they don't. EJ netted more than Stahl when they cut bait.

Re: Erik Johnson Retrospective

Posted: Sun May 24, 2020 11:30 pm
by ratonmono
Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote: Sun May 24, 2020 9:21 pm We can bemoan the pick and say it was the wrong one but as Tim pointed out, the alternative at the time would've been Stahl.

Damned if they do, damned if they don't. EJ netted more than Stahl when they cut bait.
Jarmo is poop. Toews Kessel or Backstrom were the best players available. Everyone knew that, EJ gave a bunch of scouts hard-ons with a strong finish leading up to the draft but I never, almost never take a D-man over a C 1st overall.

Re: Erik Johnson Retrospective

Posted: Mon May 25, 2020 8:38 am
by Dread_Pirate_Westley
ratonmono wrote: Sun May 24, 2020 11:30 pm
Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote: Sun May 24, 2020 9:21 pm We can bemoan the pick and say it was the wrong one but as Tim pointed out, the alternative at the time would've been Stahl.

Damned if they do, damned if they don't. EJ netted more than Stahl when they cut bait.
Jarmo is poop. Toews Kessel or Backstrom were the best players available. Everyone knew that, EJ gave a bunch of scouts hard-ons with a strong finish leading up to the draft but I never, almost never take a D-man over a C 1st overall.
You say "everyone knew that" and yet none of those guys were the first player nor the first forward off the board.

Re: Erik Johnson Retrospective

Posted: Mon May 25, 2020 10:41 am
by NHLTIM
CaptSMRT wrote: Sun May 24, 2020 5:48 pm Johnson was the wrong pick for the franchise. The Blues needed an exciting player to energize the fan base and they ended up going for a long term project to be the foundation for the future, which is asking too much of anyone.. The minute he opted to go back to college instead of playing in the NHL I knew this guy was a loser, history has not proven me wrong. The NHL is about scoring...teams at the bottom of the league need goals not dreams about the future.
Then he went back to college and he sucked while he was there. He said he had a bad experience there and that he fulfilled his dream of playing for the gophers. Remember that bone headed play he made in the WJC’s that year? It was so stupid JD had to call him after that game and ask WTF was he thinking? Lol. Actually now that I think about it, it might have been Johnson who in turn called JD after the game to explain the play.

Re: Erik Johnson Retrospective

Posted: Mon May 25, 2020 10:52 am
by NHLTIM
Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 8:38 am
ratonmono wrote: Sun May 24, 2020 11:30 pm
Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote: Sun May 24, 2020 9:21 pm We can bemoan the pick and say it was the wrong one but as Tim pointed out, the alternative at the time would've been Stahl.

Damned if they do, damned if they don't. EJ netted more than Stahl when they cut bait.
Jarmo is poop. Toews Kessel or Backstrom were the best players available. Everyone knew that, EJ gave a bunch of scouts hard-ons with a strong finish leading up to the draft but I never, almost never take a D-man over a C 1st overall.
You say "everyone knew that" and yet none of those guys were the first player nor the first forward off the board.
If you remember that draft year...Johnson rose through the draft rankings rapidly. Scouts became enamored with his size and skill and couldn’t help themselves.
The way it went down there should have been at least a red flag or two especially when a guy like Kessel had been the best player in North America from the age of 15 or so. Even with the Blues...how do you pass on Toews? You knew he was a great player and a center. It was a mistake for sure...I know every scout would have taken Johnson 1st overall but sometimes you have to find the red flags and they were there....they were just covered up by all the size and skill drool.
I believe the Blackhawks were the only team that didn’t have Johnson ranked #1 overall and they got there guy with the 3rd

Re: Erik Johnson Retrospective

Posted: Mon May 25, 2020 11:22 am
by Dread_Pirate_Westley
In Jarmo We Trust

Re: Erik Johnson Retrospective

Posted: Mon May 25, 2020 11:34 am
by NHLTIM
Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 11:22 am In Jarmo We Trust
Kessel and Marchand were my guys that year. Not a happy draft weekend for me.

Re: Erik Johnson Retrospective

Posted: Mon May 25, 2020 12:12 pm
by BluesSK
Erik Johnson - Retrospective. Sounds like a 70s soft rock artist's album.