Is it that hard to believe that the whole situation about how this trade went down, what has transpired since, and his performance at the tournament have given me more insight into what type of player and person that Jack Johnson is? The Cup stuff is true. I'm really miffed that he treated the organization the way he did, but I have no regrets at all about how last season transpired and that includes the Johnson negotiations.
How exactly did Johnson treat the Canes poorly? Johnson said his plan was to stay at least two years at Michigan when he was drafted. Did the Hurricanes and Jim Rutherford not know this? There's no rule that says an NHL prospect MUST sign with the NHL team when the NHL GM first offers him a contract. Dave Taylor tried to get Brian Boyle to turn pro before he was fired last season and he wouldn't sign. After Taylor was fired, Lombardi and Hextall again tried to get Boyle to turn pro and he refused, saying he wanted to go back for his senior season and to try and win an NCAA championship. I'm sure Kings management would rather see Boyle playing in Manchester this year but they had to respect his decision. If teams draft kids from juniors, they might be able to pencil them into their lineup as an 18 or 19 year old but if teams make the decision to draft a college player, they should be prepared that the player might actually stay all 4 years in college. Rutherford figured he could convince Johnson to leave school early and it didn't work out that way. If Johnson doesn't leave Michigan until after his senior year, as a Kings fan I'd be disappointed of course, but I wouldn't say he treated the Kings wrongly.
He's enrolled in the Kinesiology program. I know he's undeclared, but that program likely becomes a cream puff major at one point or another. Sports Medicine or something of that nature. That isn't meant to demean any people that actually intend to get a degree in that area, but when you're an athlete those are the types of programs you get into to avoid having to do any considerable amount of work.
I'm sure some athletes do pick that major to avoid work. Then again, a lot of these kids have been playing so much hockey at the expense of their studies. They also miss class because they're traveling to play their NCAA games. I know the NCAA tries to limit the amount of class they're going to miss and they provide them with tutors and things like that, but they're still going to miss some class time. Expecting them to pick a major like engineering (unless they're going to like RPI) with their hockey schedule is kind of pointless. I do admire athletes that pick something that is more challenging than the typical athlete major but I also understand that for a lot of these kids, school has been on the back burner since they were freshmen in high school or even before that because of sports. High Schools only care about keeping their athletes academically eligible, not challenging them.
I have a family friend that went to college on a baseball scholarship and he did major in something along those lines, kinesiology. He played minor league baseball for a few years, made it to AAA before blowing out his arm. For him, his kinesiology major ended up helping him after his baseball career was over. He works in a physical therapy office, coaches a high school team and he's got the experience to tell kids when to lay off injuries, not to throw certain pitches because their body isn't developed enough and they're going to ruin their arm, and things like that. Odds are Johnson won't need something like this to fall back on, but for some of his teammates that might never make the NHL having a kinesiology degree could help them career wise.