River Otters Sign NHL’ers Barret Jackman and Ryan Johnson
By Mike McMurran
Sports Editor
The Missouri River Otters announced Friday that they had signed defenseman Barret Jackman, winner of the 2002-03 Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie, and center Ryan Johnson, who has played 344 games in the NHL. Both players will make their River Otter debut Saturday night against the Kansas City Outlaws at the Family Arena.
River Otters president and owner Mike Shanahan, Jr. introduced the duo as “Two players who have recently been promoted from the NHL to the United Hockey League” Head coach Kevin Kaminski said, “We’re thrilled! This is the biggest signing in River Otters’ history. They’re both very down to earth and they’re both committed to winning a championship.
Jackman, 23, has played parts of the past three seasons with the St. Louis Blues. His first full NHL season came in 2002-03, when he played 82 games with the Blues. “With the injury to my shoulder, most of you know I have not played hockey for over a year now. This will give me the chance to stay in shape and play hockey, that’s what I do, play hockey.” He recorded three goals, 16 assists, and 190 penalty minutes during en route to winning the Calder Memorial Trophy in the ’02-’03 season. Last season Jackman played 15 games with the Blues before being felled by a season-ending injury. He was selected in the first round (17th overall) of the 1999 entry draft by the Blues. “This ain’t about the money, this is about playing hockey,” Jackman offered, when asked about the irony of playing while on strike. “This is an opportunity to stay in St. Louis rather than travel to Europe to play,” he said. “The UHL is a physical league, which is a good match for both Ryan and myself. Staying in St. Louis is important to both of us,” he said.
Johnson, 28, has played seven seasons in the NHL, including the last two seasons with the St. Louis Blues. The Ontario-native scored four goals and had seven assists in 69 games with the Blues last season. Johnson has also played for the Florida panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Florida Panthers selected him in the second round (36th over all) of the 1994 NHL entry draft.
“Ryan brings great speed and energy, along with a physical presence,” Kaminski said. “With his NHL experience, he’ll also be a great leader for our club.” Johnson said the money they earn will be donated to charity. “We are trying to give back to the community as much as we can,” he said. As far as going from the fourth or fifth center on the Blues to the UHL he said, “every player in the NHL at some point in their career was the ‘go to’ guy. That’s just the way it is. Every player must recognize what his role is on the team. I will find out what my role is very quickly. I know right now I am excited about coming to a quality organization in a quality community and helping them become better not only now, but in the future.”
Rumors of the signings significantly increased Otters’ ticket sales in the 24 hours prior to the announcement. “We’ve sold between 500 and 1000 tickets in less than 24 hours,” said Brian Grasseschi, Assistant Vice President of Operations. “Most of our ticket sales come from walk ups. With this type of advance ticket sales we are hoping for maybe 4500 Saturday night. 2000 walks ups is not out of the question, of course we are competing with ‘the fight,’ and I have no idea what that might do.” The largest crowd this year for the Otters is 5000.
