Family of former UMD hockey player Adam Johnson mourns generous, driven young man

Former Minnesota Duluth hockey player and Hibbing star Adam Johnson died after a skate blade cut his neck during a game Saturday in Sheffield, England. He was 29.

A video of the incident has been widely viewed online and shows the moments leading up, during and after the hit.

Johnson, a forward for the Nottingham Panthers, was skating with the puck into the offensive zone during the second period of a game against the Sheffield Steelers. He cut toward the middle of the ice as the Sheffield player's left leg came up unusually high, sending the skate blade into Johnson's neck.

Johnson crumpled to the ice immediately, made two attempts to get back on his skates before a teammate put pressure on the wound and guided him toward the bench.

A Panthers social media post called the incident a "freak accident."

Johnson, who was born in Grand Rapids and grew up in Hibbing, went on to play for American Hockey League clubs, the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins and teams in Europe and England. He led his high school team to its most recent high school state tournament appearance in 2011 when he was a sophomore.

Johnson's aunt, Kari Johnson, said Adam and his brother Ryan are like her own sons.

"They were my boys and each one of them had a piece of my heart," she said. She told the Star Tribune the family is devastated over the loss of a generous and driven young man.

Kari Johnson described how, growing up, tenacious Adam would learn a skill, such as playing guitar or tennis, master it and then look for the next thing.

"He wanted to be the best at whatever it was he was doing," Johnson said, and was always competing with his older brother. But he didn't necessarily want the attention. "He just wanted to be good, but he didn't want all the fanfare that goes with it."

As his hockey career progressed, Kari Johnson said her nephew's generosity was clear. While he wasn't making the big bucks yet as a rookie for the Penguins, he'd come home and make sure to buy the steaks for cookouts with friends.

"He wanted to treat his friends all the time. If one of them didn't have a job or something, Adam would buy steaks for everybody so they could grill them," she said.

Kari Johnson said that before Adam left for England, he was late visiting his grandmother, with whom he was close, because he was getting an engagement ring for his girlfriend.

"He hadn't [proposed] yet because he wanted to do something big and special," she said.

Tributes from the hockey community in Minnesota and beyond began pouring in after the news of Johnson's death.

Wild defenseman Calen Addison, who said he went to camps with Johnson and played with him briefly in the minor leagues, called Johnson's death heartbreaking.

"Can't really put into words that feeling you have when you hear something like that. Obviously thinking about his family and him and everyone that's close to him," he said.

At UMD, Johnson helped the Bulldogs get to two NCAA tournaments. In 2017, his overtime goal clinched the team's trip to the Frozen Four.

In a post on X, the Duluth men's hockey team wrote that Johnson stayed connected with the UMD hockey program and that, "as talented as he was on the ice, he was even a better person." Johnson's father, Davey, also played for the Bulldogs and was a team captain in 1980-81.

Adam Johnson spent 13 games over parts of the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons playing for Pittsburgh in the NHL.

''The Pittsburgh Penguins join the entire hockey world in mourning the life of Adam Johnson, whose life tragically ended far too soon," the Penguins said Sunday in a statement.

The NHL has had skate cut scares throughout its history, most notably Buffalo goaltender Clint Malarchuk, who took a blade to the neck during a game against St. Louis on March 22, 1989. Malarchuk received rapid medical attention and played again 10 days later.

Before the Wild played Sunday in New Jersey, coach Dean Evason said it was "a terrible incident" and offered his condolences to Johnson's friends and family. He said he was surprised more cuts don't happen because skate blades are so sharp, and said that when he played in Europe, neck guards were required.

"I'm not sure that that's still a rule there or not. But guys actually took the stuff out of it because it was restricting," he said.

Following Johnson's death, the Elite Ice Hockey League postponed several games.

Star Tribune reporters Sarah McLellan and Paul Walsh contributed to this report. This story contains information from the Associated Press.