Former Penguins center Greg Johnson dies at age 48
Former Pittsburgh Penguins center Greg Johnson, who spent parts of two seasons with the team in 1997, died Sunday in Detroit at age 48, according to multiple reports Tuesday.
A cause of death was not immediately known.
A skilled center who was the University of North Dakota’s all-time leading scorer, Johnson came to the Penguins from Detroit in a Jan. 27, 1997, trade for winger Tomas Sandstrom. He was traded to Chicago for defenseman Tuomas Gronman early the next season Oct. 27, 1997.
In between, Johnson had eight goals and 17 points in 37 regular-season games for the Penguins.
He also played five playoff games, scoring a goal.
Johnson was claimed by Nashville in the 1998 expansion draft and went on to play the last seven seasons of his career with the Predators, acting as the franchise’s second captain.
All told, he scored 145 goals in 785 NHL games and won a silver medal at the 1994 Olympics and a gold medal at the 1991 World Junior Championships.
Johnson retired in 2006 when an irregular heartbeat was discovered during a routine physical after he signed as a free agent with Detroit.
Jonathan Bombulie is the TribLive assistant sports editor. A Greensburg native, he was a hockey reporter for two decades, covering the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for 17 seasons before joining the Trib in 2015 and covering the Penguins for four seasons, including Stanley Cup championships in 2016-17. He can be reached at jbombulie@triblive.com.
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