The international ice hockey community is mourning the tragic death of Adam Johnson after a freak on-ice accident.
Johnson, 29, was a forward for the Nottingham Panthers of the Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), the highest level of professional hockey in Great Britain. He was killed during a match in Sheffield on Saturday after his neck was cut by an opponent’s skate in a collision. Parademics attempted to treat him on the ice, but his death was confirmed the following morning.
Johnson was a legend in his home state of Minnesota, where ice hockey is the most popular youth sport and high school games fill stadiums. He was a star player at Hibbing High School in Hibbing, Minnesota, a small town in the iron-rich northeastern region of the state. Hibbing has a population of 16,000 and lies three hours from the nearest major city of Minneapolis. Yet its high school hockey games garner thousands of attendees.
After four years on the varsity squad for Hibbing-Chisholm, Johnson moved to the United States Hockey League (USHL), the top flight junior league in the country, and was named a USHL All-Star in 2015. As he looked toward collegiate hockey, there was only one team he considered: the University of Minnesota-Duluth. UMD is a historic powerhouse and perennial contender for national championships, just 75 miles from Johnson’s hometown. But the university’s real draw was more personal: his uncle had played for UMD, and his father had captained the team in 1980-81. Johnson’s success in Duluth allowed him to carry on a family tradition.
In 2017, although undrafted as a teenager, Johnson was invited to attend a prospect development camp for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL) and signed a contract with the team. He made his professional debut on March 21, 2019, bringing speed and skating skills to the Penguins’ fourth line. “I’m just so happy for him, he is a great kid,” his linemate Matt Cullen said at the time. “He has earned everything he has gotten.”
Johnson scored his single NHL goal in front of friends and family at the Xcel Energy Center in Minneapolis on October 12, 2019. He played minor league hockey in the United States for several years, in California and Pennsylvania. His career eventually took him across the world, from Sweden to Bavaria and eventually the United Kingdom. Johnson signed with the Nottingham Panthers in August of 2023. In a press release at the time, Panthers head coach Jonathan Paredes described him as “an extremely fast player” with “great offensive upside.” He notched seven points in seven games for the team.
Johnson was killed in a freak accident during a match between the Nottingham Panthers and the Sheffield Steelers, when an on-ice collision resulted in an opponent’s skate blade slashing his neck. The scope of the tragedy comes with very little precedent. Two National Hockey League players are known to have suffered similar injuries: Clint Malarchuk in 1989 and Richard Zednick in 2008. Both men survived and continued their professional careers, albeit with serious psychological consequences.
In January 2022, Connecticut teenager Teddy Balkind died in a high school hockey game after his neck was cut by another player’s skate. Yet USA Hockey, the main governing body for the sport in the United States, has thus far declined to mandate neck guards for its players, strongly recommending them instead. Their reasoning cited a 2017 study by the Mayo Clinic which found the majority of these lacerations are extremely minor, requiring only a bandage. And more than 25% of neck laceration incidents involve players wearing the guards already, indicating that they are not foolproof.
Johnson’s death has reignited the conversation about mandating neck guards and player safety more broadly. The EIHL announced that that all their players will be required to wear neck protection from January 1, 2024. ESPN reporter Emily Kaplan reported that several NHL players have told her they may consider trying out the protective gear themselves. Johnson’s death is a sharp reminder of the risks involved in the sport.
Perhaps this risk should be more readily apparent: after all, ice hockey is an aggressive contact sport involving dozens of people skating on knives. And although Johnson’s death was an extraordinary and tragic accident, there are many more near-misses. Take Edmonton Oilers player Evander Kane, whose wrist was slashed open by the blade of Pat Maroon in a game last November, requiring emergency surgery. Or Winnipeg Jets forward Morgan Barron, who fell on the blade of goalie Laurent Brossoit in April and needed 75 stitches in his face.
Both of these incidents occurred in the last twelve months in the highest professional level of the sport, a league with less than 1,000 players. And 1.64 million people play organised hockey across the world, many playing without neck guards. At the amateur or intramural level, they might play without an ambulance or team of paramedics in attendance. This accident may lead to a broader reassessment of this risk and the precautions taken to address it.
Johnson’s death has shaken the entire ice hockey community, particularly in the United Kingdom, where fandom for the sport remains relatively small and consequently tight-knit. An estimated 8,000 people witnessed the event in-person, with more watching via the EIHL’s live-streaming service. Fans from Sheffield, Nottingham and further afield have expressed their condolences in-person and via social media. The Panthers released a statement on Sunday morning addressing the tragedy:
“The Panthers would like to thank everyone who rushed to support Adam last night in the most testing of circumstances. Adam, our number 47, was not only an outstanding ice hockey player, but also a great teammate and an incredible person with his whole life ahead of him. The Club will dearly miss him and will never ever forget him.”
The Pittsburgh Penguins also released a statement, saying, “Adam will always be part of the Penguins family. It was our honor to watch him fulfill his dream of playing in the National Hockey League.”
Johnson’s colleagues, friends, and family are also mourning his loss. His high school coach recalled that “he was a great hockey player, but foremost he was a great person, a great teammate.” His university teammate Karson Kuhlman said that “he’d do anything for the people he loved.” Former linemate Matt Cullen, who spoke so highly of Johnson during his early career and now works in the Penguins organisation, told Michael Russo of The Athletic:
“He was just a salt-of-the-earth guy. Super humble, easy to be around. Just one of those guys that you love playing with and having on your team. And he was a heck of a hockey player. Like, oh man, could he skate.”
Johnson is survived by his parents, Susan and Davey; his older brother, Ryan; and his fiancée, Ryan Wolfe. His death and its tragic circumstances will continue to reverberate around the United Kingdom and the world of ice hockey.
“Pittsburgh Penguins Wallpaper” by tjshirey is licensed under CC BY 2.0.