In Red Wings Land
Death of former Red Wing Greg Johnson likely a suicide, police say
Former Red Wing Greg Johnson died of an apparent suicide, according to a Rochester Police report obtained by The Detroit News.
Johnson was found by his wife, Kristin, shortly before 10 a.m. on July 7 in a storage room in the couple’s basement. A gun and a single bullet were found near Johnson, according to police.
An autopsy has been completed by the Oakland County Medical Examiner, which declined Wednesday to discuss its findings.
Johnson, who played for the Red Wings from 1993-97, was 48.
This is such a sad story, but I included it because I think it’s important to show the effects of the decisions the NHL leadership continues to make.
First, I know we have a great group of commenters, and I am not sure I even need to say this, but I will just out of an abundance of caution. Please remember that the manner of his death can be a difficult issue for a lot of people, so keep that in mind when you comment about it.
Speaking personally, stories like this are one of the reasons why I try to use the small platform I have to talk about how important it is for the NHL to better address the issue of head injuries. It’s the reason I reached out to Dan Carcillo to come on Fer Sure and talk about this. Hockey is a dangerous sport, but the NHL is not doing anywhere close to what it needs to to attempt to mitigate that danger.
How many of these stories do we need?
The top five sophomores poised for big breakout seasons – TheHockeyNews
At 19, Svechnikov is one of just three 2000-born NHLers, so patience is a virtue. But he’s far from the only sophomore primed for a breakout season in 2019-20 – let’s take a look at five others ready for a big campaign.
Hey, one of these names is really familiar!
Around the NHL
The Top 10 reasons an NHL team should trade for Milan Lucic | Edmonton Journal
There’s been no end of smoke for two summers about the Edmonton Oilers maybe moving out Milan Lucic in a trade. Maybe this week there will finally be some fire.
The main things holding up such a move are that Lucic, 31, has a No Movement Clause, so he must agree to any trade, and he’s also got four years left on a deal that pays him $6.0 million per year. This is obviously a lot of money for a player who scored just six goals in 79 games last year.
Nonetheless, it should not be impossible for the Oilers to move out Lucic, especially now that July 17th has passed and his $3 million signing bonus for the coming year has reportedly been paid. There’s one less reason now for another club to turn down a trade.
It’s possible such a trade will come about in the next week. Why?
With the depressing article in the Detroit section, I had to include a comedic one for this section.
Wait? David Staples is not the Weird Al of hockey writing, publishing wonderfully hilarious satirical articles?
Oh boy.
