When Jack Johnson signed with Columbus in the offseason, the veteran defenseman was looking forward to getting to know his new teammates.
Especially the ones who share his alma mater.
Johnson is a graduate of the University of Michigan and has taken the Wolverine alumni on the team under his wing.
They use their time in Ann Arbor together as bonding in the locker room, on the team plane and at team dinners during away games.
“We definitely have fun with similar stories to share,” Johnson said. “Even though I was there a lot earlier than they were, we have a lot of similar stories.”
Fellow defensemen and Michigan alumnus Zach Werenski was one of the two current Blue Jackets that was teammates with Johnson during his first stint in Columbus.
He was mentored by Johnson when he first came into the league and was excited to get a player back in the CBJ locker room that is willing to help younger guys improve throughout the season.
“I was a young guy when Jack was here, and he was someone I looked up to when I was a young guy,” Werenski said. “I always say he was a Michigan guy, so it was easy for me to become close with him, and he took me under his wings.”
Johnson was a Blue Jacket for seven years from 2012-18, playing in 445 games for the club and amassing 154 points while being a minutes-eating defensemen. Since his first stint in Columbus, he played for four teams in six years and won the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 2022 before signing a one-year contract to return to his offseason home. So far this season, he’s played in five of the team’s six games
Along with helping players improve on the ice, Johnson has also been a great friend to Werenski even when he was playing for other NHL teams. Now that he is back, the two of them have rekindled that relationship and have kept each other company early in the season.
“I think in the (locker) room, we were always talking to each other about college football or NFL or whatever it is, we’re always just hanging out,” Werenski said. “So I’m excited to get back on the road with them and screw around.”
Johnson has also started getting to work being a mentor to the younger players on the team. He sits next to Adam Fantilli on the team plane, and the two of them have formed an important bond to Fantilli in the short time they have been teammates.
“I hang out with him all the time in the meal room or I sit beside him on the plane. He just tells me a lot of stories,” Fantilli said. “When I need advice, I talk to him, and anytime I need an opinion on something, I’ll go to him.”
He also enjoys talking with Johnson about their time in Ann Arbor, using it as a way to establish a connection with one another that transcends the ice.
“It’s great,” Fantilli said. “(He was at Michigan) definitely a lot earlier than me, but a lot of the stuff is still the same, and we can banter about it, so it’s fun.”
Johnson has plans to invite all the young guys on the team over to his house for dinner and to meet his family.
“I told those guys, I gotta have them over for dinner and just so they can have a home-cooked meal and all that,” Johnson said.
He also said he planned on taking them out to dinner while the team is on the road, a promise he has already fulfilled when the team opened the season in Minnesota.
“He did take us out in Minnesota, so it was really nice of him,” Fantilli said. “He didn’t have to do that. But, yeah, he’s been great.”