THUNDER BAY — Retired National Hockey League player Greg Johnson of Thunder Bay has passed away.
Friends of the Johnson family say he died unexpectedly Monday in the Detroit area where he had lived for many years.
He was 48 years old.
Johnson, a forward, played in the NHL from 1993 until 2006, mainly with the Detroit Red Wings and the Nashville Predators.
He served as captain of the Predators for several seasons.
Johnson starred with the Thunder Bay Flyers of the USHL and with the University of North Dakota hockey team, and represented Canada at the international level.
In 2010, he was inducted into the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.
Diane Imrie, the hall's executive-director, said "We were very saddend to hear of Greg's passing. His contributions to the history of hockey in Thunder Bay were pretty outstanding."
She noted that, in addition to his outstanding junior and university hockey career, Johnson was a member of the Thunder Bay team that won bronze at the national midget tournament in the Lakehead in 1988, helped Canada win a gold medal at the 1991 world juniors, and won an Olympic silver medal in 1994.
"We extend our sympathies to the entire Johnson family on this terrible loss," Imrie said.
