NASHVILLE - Days before the beginning of free agency in the Old Time Hockey League, Nashville captain Greg Johnson made an unselfish and dignified career decision to hang up his skates and take a position within the club in a player development capacity.
With a contract on the table reportedly worth over two million for the next 2 years, the only captain in Nashville Predators history, Greg Johnson, 35, decided that his current health problems were enough to stop the recent recession in his playing ability. In two seasons in the OTHL with the Nashville Predators, Johnson played 158 games, amounting 29 goals and 80 points. However, this past season Johnson experience a reduced role on the club and managed only 34 points in 78 games and dropped to a -4 from a +6 the previous season.
"I'm not in a position to accept an offer to join this club on the ice," a choked up Greg Johnson explained at the press conference to announce his retirement, "...as much as I've loved my time with the Predators and would love to don that jersey again, it's time for me to pass the captaincy on, time for me to allow the younger guys to step in and give the team a chance to spend the money to try and improve the club through free agency. The lowered hard cap limits what this team can do, I didn't want to be reason for limiting it any further."
The Predators organization has yet to name a successor to the captaincy, but General Manager Tomasz Poraszka amongst other members of management were clearly much more concerned with a proper farewell to a role model captain.
"We'd like to thank Greg [Johnson] for his time with the club and are very happy to see him retire in the only jersey we could ever envision him in again. We look forward to having Greg's intelligence of the game retained on a player development level. This city has a lot of young players to get excited about, and hopefully Greg can rub off on them," responded Poraszka to Johnson's announcement. "His role on this club has been a critical one and it will be impossible to replace him. We're not concerned with that at the moment," responded Poraszka to questions regarding Johnson's replacement as captain.
Johnson finished the press conference with a touch of class that was evident in his time with the Predators, by thanking his family, his teammates, the fans of Nashville and the Predators organization for their generous hospitality and support.
The presently captainless Predators will now turn their attention to attempt to tie loose ends in signing pending Unrestricted Free Agents Brad Norton and Grant Marshall. With only days remaining before open free agency begins, the Predators have plenty of holes to fill, most notably on defense and now at the center position. It will require some crafty management from Poraszka to strengthen this team into a true contender.