Tampa Bay Lightning Forward Tyler Johnson Plays With A Big Heart

The kid from Spokane, Wash. has garnered much attention over the last few seasons because of what he does on the ice and how he does it with his lack of size.

Tyler Johnson is a special player and if you talk to anyone who knows him well, that person would agree. The 5-foot-8 forward plays with a certain confidence and tenacity that one wouldn’t think a player of his stature could express. But, it’s just the opposite, as he’s overcome much adversity and made a name for himself in the NHL.

His story is similar to Marty St. Louis‘s, but Johnson is just getting started.

The undersized, but talented forward was indeed underrated, mainly because many amateur scouts and NHL teams overlooked him for his size. Johnson went undrafted, similar to St. Louis, and was picked up by the Tampa Bay Lightning organization in 2011. Before that, he played for his hometown team, the Spokane Chiefs, and won the Memorial Cup with them in 2008.

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After playing in the Western Hockey League (WHL) for four seasons, Johnson had racked up 282 points, including a 115-point campaign in the 2010-11 season.

This was just a talented forward looking for a spot on an NHL roster. But, he was more than that and eventually he would land on his feet.

Johnson joined the Lightning organization in 2011 and began playing with its AHL farm team, the Norfolk Admirals, which now belong in the ECHL. In his first season with the team, he helped the Jon Cooper-led Admirals to a 2012 Calder Cup Championship. Along the way, Johnson scored 68 points and contributed to their record-breaking 28 consecutive win streak, which is still the longest such streak in professional hockey worldwide.

His big break came on March 14, 2013, when the Lightning called him up from the Syracuse Crunch and he made his NHL debut against the New York Islanders. His first NHL goal would come two days later against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Fast-forward to now and Johnson is a well-recognized player in the NHL after a breakout season in 2013-14, when he finished as a finalist alongside his teammate, Ondrej Palat, for the Calder Trophy, but eventually lost out to Colorado Avalanche rookie, Nathan MacKinnon. He scored 50 points that season and made his presence known to the rest of the league.

Johnson continued to improve and kept racking up more points as a part of the “famed” Triplets line, consisting of fellow forwards Palat and Nikita Kucherov. Individually, he had 72 points during the 2014-15 season, tied for the team lead with Steven Stamkos, and contributed to the team’s record breaking season with 50 wins and 108 points, the most in franchise history.

He followed up his remarkable sophomore regular season with an MVP-type performance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, leading the Lightning to the Cup Final against the Chicago Blackhawks. And though they eventually fell short of their ultimate goal, Johnson’s 23-point performance in that memorable playoff run will be remembered in the seasons to come.

In the present time, Johnson’s Lightning find themselves in a similar position: a chance to go back to the Stanley Cup Final and contend for the Cup once again. After a not so stellar 38-point season riddled with injuries, the small, but determined forward has turned it on in the playoffs again and scored 7 goals to go along with 10 assists. He has a big part in why the Lightning have reached this point in the postseason for the second straight year.

I recently read an article by Lightning beat writer, Joe Smith, of the Tampa Bay Times that featured Johnson and how much heart he plays with while contributing to the success of the team.

His former coach, Dean Blais, who coached him during the World Juniors in 2010, praised him and said he has “the heart of a lion,” pointing to his love for the game of hockey and the level he plays it at.

Blais mentioned in the article:

“There’s a lot of good hockey players,” Blais said. “There’s only one Tyler Johnson.”

And he’s right. There’s only one Tyler Johnson and he has turned out to be one heck of a player for the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Stanley Cup is within reaching distance and we’re sure that he and the rest of the team are eager to get a taste of claiming hockey’s greatest prize.

Next: NHL Announces 2016 Stanley Cup Final Schedule

Tonight’s game is around the corner, so if you’re watching from home, tune in at 8 P.M. on the NBC Sports Network or on Lightning Radio, station 970 WFLA. Local post-game coverage can also be found on Fox Sports Sun in addition to NBC.