{"id":470124,"date":"2025-10-01T14:16:40","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T18:16:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=470124"},"modified":"2025-10-01T14:16:40","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T18:16:40","slug":"former-first-overall-pick-and-stanley-cup-champion-retires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/10\/01\/former-first-overall-pick-and-stanley-cup-champion-retires\/","title":{"rendered":"Former First-Overall Pick and Stanley Cup Champion Retires"},"content":{"rendered":"

Erik Johnson<\/a>, the first-overall pick in 2006, has decided to end his NHL career. The defenceman was the first overall pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft and won a Stanley Cup in 2022.<\/p>\n

Johnson Retires<\/h2>\n
\n

Erik Johnson<\/a> will forever be a part of Blues history as our first No. 1 overall draft pick. Thank you for your time in the Note and congratulations on your retirement, @6ErikJohnson<\/a>! #stlblues<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/iStyxGNFoy<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) October 1, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Johnson spent last season with the Philadelphia Flyers<\/a> and Colorado Avalanche<\/a>. Between the two teams, Johnson recorded five points in 36 games.<\/p>\n

First-Overall Pick and Stanley Cup Champion<\/h3>\n

Johnson was the first-overall pick of the St. Louis Blues<\/a> in 2006. The decision to pick Johnson ended up being controversial in St. Louis, as Jonathan Toews<\/a> was also available in that draft. After a few so-so seasons with the Blue Note<\/em>, Johnson was the main piece in a package that was sent to the Avalanche in exchange for Chris Stewart<\/a> and Kevin Shattenkirk<\/a>. Johnson played in Colorado through the 2022-23 season. Johnson’s best season came in 2017-18 when he scored nine goals and recorded 25 points.<\/p>\n

In 2022, Johnson helped the Avalanche win the Stanley Cup<\/a>. As a result of his long tenure with the organization, Johnson was the first to receive the Stanley Cup from captain Gabriel Landeskog<\/a>. In 20 playoff games that season, recorded five points for the Avs.<\/p>\n

Johnson’s Legacy<\/h3>\n

Teams that Johnson played for late in his career were always looking to benefit from his veteran experience. Despite not playing in more than 70 games since the Avs Stanley Cup season in 2022, Johnson has still been a coveted defenceman. He has been traded to a contender each of the last two seasons, including returning to the Avalanche last season in a trade with the Flyers. If he wanted to continue playing, he likely could have found a team willing to benefit from his service.<\/p>\n

Johnson’s experience, both as a leader and in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, will be how he is remembered. Furthermore, he will always be a Stanley Cup Champion.<\/p>\n

Main Photo: Kyle Ross- Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Erik Johnson, the first-overall pick in 2006, has decided to end his NHL career. The defenceman was the first overall pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft and won a Stanley Cup in 2022. Johnson Retires Erik Johnson will forever be a part of Blues history as our first No. 1 overall draft pick. Thank […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3464,"featured_media":470127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[34,4547,4548],"tags":[660,5907],"class_list":["post-470124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-hockey","category-nhl","tag-erik-johnson","tag-nhl-retirement"],"modified_by":"Andrew Willis","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3464"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470124"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":475067,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470124\/revisions\/475067"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}