Browsing: Erik

The New York Rangers were dealt a significant setback this week as top defenseman Adam Fox was placed on long-term injured reserve with an upper-body injury. The loss leaves a major hole in the lineup, and the team is now exploring ways to reinforce its blue line, particularly on the power play.

Former Ranger Erik Gustafsson has emerged as a leading candidate with multiple reports having the Red Wings defender linked to New York, and Sportsnetâ€s Elliotte Friedman noted that the Rangers are searching for a power play quarterback who can step in while Fox recovers. Gustafsson fits the description as a cheap, short-term option who already knows the Rangers system.

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Gustafsson played 76 games for New York during the 2023-24 season, finishing with six goals and 25 assists for 31 points. This year, he has been with the Detroit Red Wings AHL affiliate in the Grand Rapids Griffins and has produced 12 assists in 13 games. His absence from the Griffins game on Sunday against the Toronto Marlies has fueled speculation that a trade could be close. The night before, he was the best player on the ice for Grand Rapids and recorded assists on all three of the teamâ€s goals in a 3-2 victory.

The veteran defenseman has 516 NHL games on his résumé across ten seasons. His most productive year came with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2018 to 19 when he posted 60 points and established himself as one of the leagueâ€s more dynamic offensive defensemen. His recent play suggests he still has the tools to contribute at the NHL level.

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It is not yet clear what the cost would be to acquire him, although a mid-round draft pick is viewed as a reasonable expectation. For the Rangers, who suddenly find themselves without their top defenseman, Gustafsson could provide a timely and familiar solution as the Rangers try to maintain momentum while the Red Wings can finally get some assets for a player losing his value the longer he sits in the minors.

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Nov 26, 2025, 10:46 PM ET

MIAMI — Water bottles were getting dumped on Miami coach Erik Spoelstra from all angles in a joyous locker room after the Heat beat the Milwaukee Bucks in an NBA Cup game, and the scene caught him off guard.

The water pourers wanted to celebrate his 800th career win.

And Spoelstra had no idea what was happening.

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“I was very confused,” Spoelstra said Wednesday night. “I was calculating that maybe we’ve qualified for the Cup. Then I’m looking around and nobody else is getting water dumped on them, and I’m like, ‘Wait a minute — what’s going on here?'”

That was when Spoelstra learned of the milestone. He’s the 17th coach in NBA history to win that many games and only the third to do it with one team, joining San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich and Utah’s Jerry Sloan.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet because I wasn’t aware of it. It’s fitting that it comes on the eve of Thanksgiving,” Spoelstra said. “I just feel incredible gratitude for this organization and all of these years. I’m having a hell of a time. I love what I do, I love coaching, I love this profession, I love working for this organization, I love working for, and with, amazing players and staff — too many to count over the years.”

The milestone comes a few weeks after Spoelstra lost his home to a massive fire. His children were not there at the time — they were with their mother that night — and Spoelstra was returning home from a road trip when the fire started. He hasn’t missed a day of work and the Heat haven’t missed a beat; they’re 13-6 this season, third best in the Eastern Conference.

Erik Spoelstra was all smiles while leading the Heat past the Bucks on Wednesday night in what was his 800th career win. AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell

“It’s huge. I’m trying to think of how old I was when Spo probably got his first one and then to be where he is now — he’s got 800 of them — is insane,” Heat guard Tyler Herro said. “It’s great to be a part of a great organization who’s historically been one of the top.”

Herro scored 29 points in the 106-103 win, and Bam Adebayo finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Miami improved to 3-1 in Cup games and 9-1 at home this season. It would win Group C if Milwaukee beats New York on Friday; if the Knicks win that game, the Heat would need some help to reach the quarterfinals.

Ryan Rollins scored 26 points for Milwaukee, which got 24 from Myles Turner and 15 from Gary Trent Jr. The Bucks have dropped six straight, the last four of those without Giannis Antetokounmpo, who missed a fourth consecutive game with a strained left adductor.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Nov 19, 2025, 06:54 PM ET

MIAMI — Golden State’s Steve Kerr doesn’t see much of a need to pass the Olympic coaching torch to Miami’s Erik Spoelstra.

In Kerr’s mind, Spoelstra was ready for the looming challenge long ago.

Kerr, the former U.S. Olympic men’s basketball coach, was facing off with Spoelstra, the current U.S. Olympic men’s basketball coach, on Wednesday night for the first time since the Heat sideline boss was officially hired by USA Basketball to take over the national team. Kerr said he has zero doubt that Spoelstra is ready for the challenge and all that comes with it.

“He was a great choice,” Kerr said before the Golden State-Miami game. “He’s one of the great coaches of all time. Great awareness of what FIBA is about, the difference between coaching a team for seven weeks and coaching one for nine months, all of that stuff. He’s just got his finger on the pulse of it all. He’s going to be great.”

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Spoelstra will lead the U.S. men at the 2027 World Cup in Doha, Qatar, and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Kerr led the Americans at the 2023 World Cup, when they finished fourth in Manila, then again on the way to Olympic gold at the Paris Games in 2024. Spoelstra was on Kerr’s staff for both events.

Later this weekend in South Florida, the U.S. officially starts its quest to reach the 2027 World Cup. A 12-player team assembled for the first two games on the 12-game qualifying schedule will gather for practices at the University of Miami before flying to Nicaragua to open play on Nov. 28. The qualifying games run through March 2027.

Spoelstra hasn’t reached out to Kerr yet to talk specifics about how he pivoted from NBA thinking to international basketball thinking. He will, at some point.

“I’ve said it before, but I’m just so incredibly grateful for having that opportunity to be on his staff for the last two summers,” Spoelstra said. “The entire staff, we had such an amazing time. It was a life experience. It was Basketball 101. We all grew from it, just from a basketball coaching development experience. It’s the same four lines and two baskets and a basketball, but it’s a different sport, FIBA. And we were humbled in that first year and the second year, I think, the experiences that we had the summer before helped us for that Olympic experience.”

The U.S. men have won the last five Olympic gold medals. Spoelstra will be tasked with extending that streak, and saw in Paris how difficult the job can be — with the Americans needing to rally from a double-digit deficit late to beat Serbia in the semifinals, then hold off France for the gold medal behind a dazzling show from Stephen Curry.

And when “The Star-Spangled Banner” played for the Americans that night in Paris to commemorate their Olympic gold, Kerr turned to Spoelstra and said, “good luck.” The announcement that Spoelstra was taking over the team was more than a year away, but Kerr already seemed to know who the next coach needed to be.

“I was so impressed with Steve just in terms of the way he was able to manage everything,” Spoelstra said. “We all know that there is great pressure. I think he, as part of his genius, he managed that beautifully. Just getting the team, one, to handle all the expectations, and then getting the team to hit the stride at just the right time and be able to handle adversity like we did against Serbia. I think it was just great leadership on his part. That experience will be something I’ll never forget.”

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Speaking to the media on Friday a day after his South Florida home burned down, Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra offered his appreciation and thanks to those who reached out in support.

Following the Heat’s 126-108 win over the Charlotte Hornets, the magnitude of the situation started to sink in for Spoelstra.

“It just hit me, right now, after the game. I just want to go home,” said Spoelstra, via the Associated Press. “My kids, we’re taken care of. I will see them tonight. But in a perfect world, I’d rather go home.”

Firefighters responded to a report of a fire in Coral Gables at 4:30 a.m. on Thursday, and arrived on the scene to discover two buildings engulfed in flames. The fire was successfully extinguished before it spread to other homes.

“Ladder trucks were used to attack the fire from above,” Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said in a news release. “The intense heat and a partial roof collapse forced crews to take a defensive approach, fighting the fire from the outside to ensure firefighter safety. … The cause of the fire is under investigation.”

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Spoelstra and the Heat played in Denver on Wednesday night. The Heat flew back to Miami overnight, and did not land until 5:11 a.m. after the fire was already reported. Spoelstra arrived at the home after firefighters were already on the scene.

No one was injured and Spoelstra’s three children were at their mother’s home at the time of the fire. Wives and girlfriends of Heat players have been busy helping the family, even donating items such as toys that were destroyed.

“Things in the house, those things can be replaced,” said Spoelstra, who has been with the organization since 1995 and the team’s head coach since 2008. “And if they can’t be replaced, what does it really matter? This is really what matters. Family, the closest ones, our dog also was safe, thank God. We’re just grateful. We’re grateful that everybody is safe and in a great place.”

The Heat offered Spoelstra time off to deal with the situation, but he declined. He said that his children wanted to go to Friday’s game, which meant he needed to work.

“I just want to thank everybody for this overwhelming support,” Spoelstra said. “The South Florida community has just been absolutely remarkable. People reaching out, wanting to help. It’s obviously been something that’s uniquely challenging for our family, but Spoelstras are resilient.”

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MIAMI — Flanked by his three children, Miami coach Erik Spoelstra spoke publicly Friday for the first time since fire burned down his residence and expressed appreciation for what he described as “absolutely remarkable” support in the aftermath.

Spoelstra’s home was destroyed by a blaze that broke out sometime around 4:30 a.m. Thursday. His children, Santiago, Dante and Ruby, were at their mother’s home at the time and nobody was injured in the blaze.

“Things in the house, those things can be replaced,” Spoelstra said before Miami’s game with the Charlotte Hornets. “And if they can’t be replaced, what does it really matter? This is really what matters. Family, the closest ones, our dog also was safe, thank God. We’re just grateful. We’re grateful that everybody is safe and in a great place.”

The Heat won the game 126-108. And afterward, that’s when the magnitude of the moment began sinking in for Spoelstra.

“It just hit me, right now, after the game. I just want to go home,” Spoelstra said in his postgame news conference. “My kids, we’re taken care of. I will see them tonight. But in a perfect world, I’d rather go home.”

The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Spoelstra said the Heat offered him a few days off if he needed to deal with personal matters, and he declined.

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“The kids wanted to come to the game tonight,” Spoelstra said. “So, I figured if they want to come to the game, then I’d better work.”

Spoelstra was on an airplane when the fire started, flying home with the Heat from a Wednesday night game in Denver. The fire was called in around 4:36 a.m. Thursday, county records showed, and the Heat charter landed in Miami about 35 minutes later.

Multiple fire trucks were at the scene when Spoelstra arrived at his home. He was seen walking around the outside of the property in the predawn hours, sometimes stopping and holding his head in apparent disbelief as flames shot into the darkness.

“I want to give a shoutout to the first responders, the police officers and the firemen. They were amazing,” Spoelstra said. “They weren’t able to save our house, but obviously, we’ve seen things that could have spread to the rest of the neighborhood. They were very kind while they were trying to put out all the flames.”

Spoelstra said the Heat family have all offered support, and that some of the wives and girlfriends of players on the team are already busy trying to help the kids — who went to school as normal Friday — with a surprise or two.

“Possibly some toys that were lost in the house,” Spoelstra said. “They’ve been amazing.”

Drone footage showed that much of the home was reduced to charred rubble. Some crews remained on the scene, monitoring hotspots, until early Thursday afternoon — about eight hours after the fire was reported.

“Ladder trucks were used to attack the fire from above,” Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said in a news release. “The intense heat and a partial roof collapse forced crews to take a defensive approach, fighting the fire from the outside to ensure firefighter safety. … The cause of the fire is under investigation.”

Spoelstra, who has been with the Heat since 1995 and the head coach since 2008, bought the five-bedroom home in December 2023. He had done extensive work to the property after the purchase.

He finalized a deal last month to serve as coach of the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

“I just want to thank everybody for this overwhelming support,” Spoelstra said with his sons on either side of him as he spoke and his daughter in his lap. “The South Florida community has just been absolutely remarkable. People reaching out, wanting to help. It’s obviously been something that’s uniquely challenging for our family, but Spoelstras are resilient.”

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CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Fire destroyed a home owned by Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra early Thursday, with officials saying more than 20 units were dispatched in what became a futile effort to save the property.

Spoelstra was not home when the fire began, and no injuries were reported. Fire officials said “the home was unoccupied” when the blaze broke out around 4:30 a.m.

An investigation into what caused the fire was starting, officials said. Those probes can take weeks in some cases.

Spoelstra and the Heat played in Denver on Wednesday night and their charter flight back to Miami did not land until 5:11 a.m.

Spoelstra arrived at the home shortly after the plane landed, with several fire crews working to try to contain the blaze. He was seen walking around the outside of the property as the fire continued, sometimes stopping and holding his head in disbelief.

Drone footage captured by CBS affiliate WFOR in Miami showed that, at minimum, much of the home was reduced to charred rubble.

Smoke was still seen rising over parts of the property more than three hours after the first fire trucks arrived, but officials declared the blaze as contained around that time.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said the blaze — with flames “as tall as the trees,” battalion chief Victoria Byrd said in a brief news briefing — was fought with crews both on the ground and in the air. The fire was contained to the property owned by Spoelstra and no nearby homes were damaged, Byrd said, adding that a privacy fence and tree cover impeded the initial firefighting efforts.

“Our units came in and did an excellent job,” Byrd said.

Property records show Spoelstra bought the five-bedroom home in December 2023. He had done extensive work to the property following the purchase.

Spoelstra is in his 18th season as head coach of the Heat, an organization he originally joined as a video coordinator in 1995. He finalized a deal last month to serve as coach of the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

The Heat were scheduled to be off Thursday and will play host to the Charlotte Hornets on Friday night.

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Manchester United parted company with Erik ten Hag over 12 months ago but the Dutchman’s legacy lives on, according to a new report.

Ten Hag’s tenure saw Man United lift the Carabao Cup in 2023 and FA Cup in 2024, but too many costly defeats caused the Old Trafford hierarchy to part company with the head coach who occasionally clashed with journalists.

Ruben Amorim arrived shortly after Ten Hag’s dismissal and appears to have turned a corner with his team, despite huge scrutiny and a disappointing 15th place Premier League finish during his first year in charge.

The Portuguese coach has the Man United attack firing on all cylinders and was backed to the tune of £200 million over the summer which funded the arrivals of Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko.

As per Sun journalist Samuel Luckhurst, Man United made the decision to put former left-back Brandon Williams up for sale in the summer of 2023.

However, Ten Hag elected to field the homegrown defender during the team’s pre-season tour, before subsequently sending Williams on loan to Ipswich Town.

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Instead of Williams, Ten Hag could have fielded young left-back Alvaro Carreras, who had spent the previous season on loan at Preston North End and returned to Carrington with a budding reputation.

The Spaniard was overlooked, though, failing to make an appearance on the pre-season tour. He joined Granada on a season-long loan which was later cut short at Man United’s request. This was in order to send Carreras on loan to Benfica for the remainder of the 2023/24 campaign, in a deal which included a reported €6m buy option.

That particular option became obligatory when Carreras played over 50 per cent of Benfica’s remaining fixtures and a permanent deal was struck.

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Alvaro Carreras during his time at SL Benfica (Image credit: Hugo Amaral/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Fast forward to present day and Carreras is now the starting left-back for Real Madrid, while Williams is out-of-favour at Championship side Hull City having spent an extended period without a club following his 2024 Old Trafford release.

Carreras is currently valued at €50m by Transfermarkt, and is understood to have been sold by Benfica back to the Spanish capital for a similar fee.

In FourFourTwo‘s opinion, it is all well and good looking back on things with hindsight, critiquing Ten Hag’s decision to select Williams over Carreras.

That said, Carreras had excelled on loan at Deepdale and could hardly have done much more to impress the Old Trafford boss at the time, so perhaps was due a run in the team, particularly during non-competitive, friendly fixtures in which there was nothing at stake.

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  Brian WindhorstOct 10, 2025, 04:00 PM ET

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  • ESPN.com NBA writer since 2010
  • Covered Cleveland Cavs for seven years
  • Author of two books

EXACTLY ONE HOUR before the tipoff of the gold medal game last summer in Paris, when Olympic rules dictated players could come onto the court for warmups, an unlikely duo was the first to hit the floor.

Erik Spoelstra and LeBron James, all business, worked through their pregame routine, Team USA’s assistant coach putting the player through the paces. It was a common sight all summer, Spoelstra and James working together individually, their past history of joy, pain and drama with the Miami Heat pushed out of consciousness.

“Moments like those are a testament to what USA Basketball is all about,” Spoelstra told ESPN. “No matter what friction or misunderstandings you may have had in the NBA, it all gets moved aside because you have the same goal.”

Spoelstra is known for his obsessive nature, but especially so when it comes to what he refers to as the “purity” of competition. Whether he’s talking about a bench player filling his role, a superstar delivering in the clutch or his own responsibilities, it’s one of the guiding principles in Spoelstra’s 17 years as head coach of the Heat.

And it’s why Spoelstra has been destined to lead Team USA, which was formalized Tuesday when he was announced as the next head coach of the national team. Spoelstra will guide the Americans through the 2027 FIBA World Cup in Qatar and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

“Everyone in this business wants to be a part of Team USA, the legacy and history of the program is the ultimate in the sport and I’m both humbled and grateful,” Spoelstra said. “Competing on the world stage is so stimulating.”

SPOELSTRA HAS QUICKLY moved up the USA Basketball ranks, coaching the Select Team in 2021 during a COVID-limited training camp in Las Vegas that helped prepare the national team for the Tokyo games that summer.

Then he was former coach Steve Kerr’s assistant for the 2023 World Cup and 2024 Olympics, impressing USA Basketball executive director Grant Hill so much with his investment in the role that he instantly became the leading candidate to be Kerr’s successor.

“Just watching him the last two summers and getting to know him up close rather than just from afar, where I’ve admired him for so long, I got a firsthand glimpse at what a great coach he is,” Kerr said last week. “I think the assistant coaching [on Team USA] is almost a prerequisite for coaching USA … he’s a perfect choice. He’s going to be great.”

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Hill, who took over USA Basketball in 2021, didn’t run an expansive search, sources said. After seeing Spoelstra’s performance, Hill and other members of the USA Basketball leadership team, including CEO Jim Tooley and Chairman Gen. (Ret.) Martin Dempsey, were convinced.

“I have known Erik Spoelstra for the better part of two decades and have gotten to know him better throughout our time with USA Basketball,” Hill said. “Spo is not only an outstanding coach, but a great colleague, friend and father, all of which make him the perfect choice to continue the USA Basketball Men’s National Team coaching legacy through 2028.”

Spoelstra has a significant task ahead of him — both in selecting and preparing the team to defend its home turf and its gold medal. The superstars who powered the 2024 team in Paris — Olympics MVP LeBron James, gold-medal-game hero Stephen Curry and four-time gold medalist Kevin Durant — are obviously no guarantee to participate in LA28.

In addition to turning over the roster, getting players to sign up for the World Cup in ’27 might be a challenge.

The World Cup is the primary way teams qualify for the Olympics and it’s a grueling three-year process. It includes six qualification game windows over a 15-month span — most of them played during the NBA season when top players aren’t available and many game are in far-flung places such as Santa Cruz do Sul, Brazil — that must be navigated to qualify for the World Cup. Then only the top two finishers from North and South America at the World Cup itself get into the Olympics. The U.S. has squeaked into Olympic berths over the past two cycles, not medaling in the previous two World Cups.

But because the U.S. is the host nation, the Americans are given an automatic berth into 2028. With the summer heat in Doha (the World Cup starts Aug. 27, 2027), getting participation from top stars — with an Olympic berth already guaranteed — could be a harder sell.

Other countries, such as the reigning World Cup and European champion Germany, have required players to make multiyear commitments to ensure they make the Olympic roster. Team USA created this standard in 2005 after losing the 2004 Olympic gold but has moved away from it over the past 15 years.

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Hill and Spoelstra do not currently have plans for such a requirement, but the coach made it clear there will be a standard.

“This is a time where players are going to understand the importance of putting your hand up and saying you want the opportunity to be a part of the USA program,” Spoelstra said. “It’s more than just about having to qualify [for the Olympics], it’s about the shared life experience that being on Team USA means.”

Managing high-profile stars, their egos and their needs is one of the demanding parts of the job. In 2024, for example, Kerr faced scrutiny when he elected to take Celtics star Jayson Tatum out of the rotation for two games.

Team USA won them both, but Kerr was still heartily booed when he brought the Warriors to Boston last season, and probably will continue to be into the future.

MIKE KRZYZEWSKI, GREGG POPOVICH and Kerr, the past three men in the job who have led Team USA to five straight Olympic golds, have all discussed the demanding nature of the decisions the job requires and the stress it induces.

“There’s only one outcome that you are allowed to have — it’s did you win?” Krzyzewski said last year looking back at his time as USA head coach from 2006-2018. “To win the Olympic gold, you have to win what is essentially three straight Game 7s against NBA talent playing the biggest games of their lives, and you’re expected to win them all.”

And never more so than now.

The U.S. is expected to win in 2028, but it no longer enjoys the large margin for error against international competition that it used to. The team has had to pull off double-digit comebacks in the medal round of the past two Olympics, the Game 7-style situations Krzyzewski referred to, to keep the gold streak alive.

Spoelstra, who won two NBA championships as head coach and has led teams to the Finals six times, is well aware of the strings that come along with the promotion.

“When you’re an assistant coach, it’s easier for the players to see you as more of a friend, so the relationship changes [when you’re head coach],” Spoelstra said. “But that is what you understand when you are a part of Team USA, you’re the ‘Man in the Arena,’ and it really makes you feel alive.”

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Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra is expected to be named head coach of USA Basketballâ€s menâ€s team for the next cycle, including the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

He has the backing of the last guy to have the job, Warriors coach Steve Kerr.

“I mean, Spo is incredible. Heâ€s a phenomenal coach,†Kerr said after a Warriors practice Friday. “And, just watching him the last two summers and getting to know him up close, rather than just from afar, where Iâ€ve admired him for so long, I got a first-hand glimpse at what a great coach he is.â€

Spoelstra was one of the assistant coaches on Kerrâ€s staff for the Paris Olympics, where Team USA won its fifth consecutive gold medal. That staff was also together for the World Cup in the Philippines the year before. Kerr said being an assistant coach for Team USA matters before moving over to the big chair.

“I think the assistant coaching is almost a prerequisite for coaching USA,†Kerr said. “Itâ€s really a different job, and now he has that experience, just like I did with [Gregg Popovich], in the World Cup in â€19 and the Olympics in â€21.

“Spo is a perfect choice. Heâ€s gonna be great.â€

Spoelstra is the longest-tenured coach in the NBA, entering his 18th season, and has led the Heat to six NBA Finals appearances, winning two (2012 and 2013). In a sign of how respected he is around the league, a poll of NBA GMs voted him the “best coach in the NBA†as well as the best manager and motivator of players.

Spoelstraâ€s contract with USA Basketball is not finalized and has to be approved by the organizationâ€s board of directors, but that is all expected to be wrapped up before the end of the month.

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DENVER — Defenseman Erik Johnson announced his retirement Wednesday after a 17-year career that was highlighted by a 2022 Stanley Cup title with the Colorado Avalanche.

Picked No. 1 in the 2006 NHL draft by the St. Louis Blues, Johnson was traded to the Avalanche as part of a blockbuster deal in 2011. He played in 1,023 regular-season games with the Blues, Avalanche, Buffalo Sabres and Philadelphia Flyers. He finished with 95 goals, 253 assists, 1,717 blocks and 1,695 hits.

The 37-year-old Johnson has long been a fan favorite in Denver, where he spent 14 of his 17 seasons. His most iconic moment, though, may have taken place away from the ice. He led the crowd in the singing of “All the Small Things,” by Blink-182 after the parade to celebrate Colorado hoisting the Stanley Cup. It was the theme song that season.

In a statement, Johnson said: “I am retiring with a heart full of gratitude.”

He thanked organizations, teammates, coaches, staff members, family, friends and, of course, the fans.

“Your passion made every moment unforgettable,” Johnson said.

Johnson’s 14 seasons in Colorado — 2011 to 2022-23, along with a return late last season — trails only Adam Foote (17) for most seasons among Avalanche/Nordiques blueliners. His 731 regular-season games in an Avalanche sweater are also second only to Foote (967) among the franchise’s defensemen.

The player known as “EJ” is first in franchise history in blocked shots (1,373) and third in hits (1,288) among defensemen. The Bloomington, Minnesota, product leaves the NHL rink 25th on the most games played list among American-born defenseman in league history.

His first NHL game was with St. Louis on Oct. 4, 2007, against the then-Phoenix Coyotes. He had an assist on a goal by Keith Tkachuk.

His last regular-season game was with Colorado on April 13 at the Anaheim Ducks. He scored an empty-net goal. Johnson also played in two games in the first-round series against the Dallas Stars, where the Avalanche lost in seven.

“Hockey has been my life, and I’m grateful for every second,” Johnson said. “I’m excited for what’s next and will always cherish this journey.”

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