At 18, He Fights for a Job : Kings’ Rookie Johnson Makes Early Impression

Enforcer Stu Grimson of the Mighty Ducks was flat on his back on the training table, one ice pack on his knee and another on his eye after an exhibition game against the Kings on Sunday.

Anyone would have thought he had run up against the Kings’ Marty McSorley.

But the wounds weren’t the work of McSorley--or any other established NHL heavyweight. A reporter gave Grimson some information about his newest foe, saying: “He’s 18.”

“He is?” Grimson said in a hushed tone.

He is King rookie forward Matt Johnson, who is defined by his coaches and teammates by one word-- huge. But the 6-foot-5, 230-pounder isn’t particularly awed by his own size.

“I was 6-5 when I was 15,” Johnson said, shrugging. “I grew fast.”

So he is used to causing partial eclipses.

King Coach Barry Melrose knew next to nothing about Johnson when the team was preparing to select him in the NHL’s entry draft in June at Hartford, Conn. But General Manager Sam McMaster knew that Melrose would have no quarrel with the move.

“Sam said, ‘This is your second-round pick. You’ll love him,’ ” Melrose said Tuesday. “I looked up and couldn’t see any light behind him. That’s when I knew he was our guy.”

One table away, Glen Sather, Edmonton president and general manager, looked up at his scouts and asked, “Who the . . . is that?”

An Oiler scout answered, “That’s the guy we wanted you to take.”

Johnson showed he is no long-term project, either. In the opening period of his first NHL exhibition Sunday at San Diego, he fought Grimson, came out ahead, then later earned a draw in the second-period rematch.

One exhibition game does not make an NHL career, but it helped Johnson take a significant step toward making the Kings’ roster.

“He’s going to be a force in this league in a few years--if not now,” Duck Coach Ron Wilson said.

At his Manhattan Beach home, McSorley, who didn’t make the trip, watched the fights on TV, then sat back and smiled.

“I can’t say how proud I was of him,” McSorley said. “He didn’t have me or Troy Crowder behind him. He was like, ‘Look, here I am.’ Stu’s got a good reputation. And not only did he fight him once, he fought him again. ‘OK, let’s bring it. I’m not going anywhere.’ And he got hit too. You can’t make a guy a tough guy.

“You don’t need to hide him anywhere. He’s out there front and center. He got punched. Everybody is going to get hit. You’ve got to stand there and take it.”

Johnson, like McSorley, grew up on a farm near a small town in Ontario, Canada, and spent his childhood fighting his younger brothers.

“We still go at it all the time,” Johnson said. “We chase each other around. You don’t stop until something gets broken.”

From all accounts, he wasn’t the one suffering the broken bones at home or in the Ontario Hockey League the last couple of seasons. Generally regarded as the undisputed heavyweight champion of the OHL, Johnson scored 13 goals, 37 points and recorded 233 penalty minutes in 50 games last season with the Peterborough Petes.

Johnson can’t remember the last time he lost a fight.

“I wouldn’t admit to it if I did,” he said.

But he does say that his most memorable encounter was two years ago against Alexander Stojanov, who was then with the Guelph Storm.

“That was one of my best junior fights,” he said. “It felt like it would never end. It was a stand-up fight. But that was my first year of junior. He would have been about 20. I was 16.”

Even before joining Peterborough, Johnson knew his route to the NHL would be as an enforcer. He has diligently worked on improving his skating as well as his touch around the net. McSorley, for his part, has been impressed by Johnson’s work ethic at training camp.

“He doesn’t want to come off the ice,” McSorley said. “I’ll say, ‘What do you want to work on?’ And he’ll want to do skill things around the net.

“We’re looking for him to do other things--like taking half a team with him as he goes to the net.”

Johnson said he didn’t think about fighting before the Anaheim game, but McSorley suggested otherwise.

“I talked to him at length before the game,” McSorley said. “I said, ‘If it’s not right, don’t do it.’ But he wanted it.”

King Notes

The Kings sent defensemen Rob Cowie, Michael Gaul, Justin Hocking and Michael Burman; left wings Jeff Shevalier, Randy Pearce and Dan Bylsma, and goaltender Pauli Jaks to the Phoenix Roadrunners. Right wing Shayne Toporowski was returned to his junior team, the Prince Albert Raiders, and center Ken Hodge Jr. was released.