Erik Johnson says goodbye to Colorado Avalanche
After 13 long years with the Colorado Avalanche, defenseman Erik Johnson has said his final goodbyes to his longtime team.
Thank you, Avalanche. Thank you, Denver. Thank you, Colorado. Love you always. -EJ pic.twitter.com/KSxFJIQg6B
— Erik Johnson (@6ErikJohnson) July 2, 2023
In his lengthy career, Johnson played 920 regular season games in the NHL, 717 of those came in playing with the Avalanche. During his career, the Bloomington, Minnesota native racked up 88 goals and 249 assists for a total of 337 points.
“To all my loyal Avalanche teammates, staff, coaches, and fans across Denver, the state of Colorado and around the world:”
“I wanted nothing more than to retire as a member of the Avalanche. But things don’t always work out the way you wanted or planned and now I am moving on. And that’s Ok. Change can be good, as hard as it is. I didn’t want to be traded to Denver from St.Louis that night in February of 2011. But it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Denver is now my home and i have made the best friends and best memories of my entire life here.
“To my teammates, thank you for pushing and supporting me over the last decade plus. You are my friends forever. To all my coaches and management, thank you for believing in me and giving me a chance. To all the staff, thank you for patching me up and putting me back together so many times. Thank you for working all the late nights and hard hours to help me be at my best.
“To all the Avs fans, I love you. You always supported me and cheered me on no matter good or bad. I will never forget you. It’s not goodbye, it’s see ya later. I’ll always be an Av. WE are Stanley Cup champions. We all climbed the mountain and did it. I am eternally grateful for all of you. Thank you for making the past 13 years the best of my life. I’ll always be with you. Thank you everyone. I was so blessed to be an Avalanche.”
Johnson will unlikely return to the Avalanche for next season, as he became an unrestricted free agent on July 1st.
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