BREAKING THE ICE

By JERRY CROWE

Oct. 4, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Craig Johnson could play a key role tonight when the Kings open the season against the Phoenix Coyotes at Staples Center. But even if he sees only spot duty, the versatile winger will be grateful for every shift.

He suffered a nearly career-ending injury Dec. 26, when the blade of his left skate sliced into his right ankle as he crashed into the boards a split-second after scoring the Kings’ only goal in a 2-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks.

“It was kind of a freak thing,” he said this week. “I thought maybe I had twisted it or sprained it. I skated off on my own, but when I got off the ice I started to put weight on it and I knew something was wrong.

“I looked down at my sock and it was just covered with blood.”

The gruesome injury, diagnosed as a severed flexor tendon, sidelined Johnson for the Kings’ late-season surge, but it could have been a lot worse.

The skate blade, which knifed through Johnson’s right sock in the tiny gap between the bottom of his shin pad and the top of his skate, cut through skin, blood vessels, the flexor tendon and even bone, stopping just short of a nerve.

A millimeter deeper, doctors told him, and he’d be looking for another job. The nerve damage probably would have been too much to overcome.

Instead, the 1994 U.S. Olympian from St. Paul, Minn., is preparing for his sixth season with the Kings and playing better than ever.

The Kings, opening their 35th season, will try to build on the success of last spring’s playoff run, which carried them to the brink of the Western Conference semifinals, with a roster devoid of big-name talent.

At times, role players such as Johnson will be counted on heavily.

In fact, if Adam Deadmarsh is unable to play tonight because of a lingering groin injury, Johnson, 29, will skate on the No. 1 line with Jozef Stumpel and Ziggy Palffy, essentially taking the spot vacated by the departed Luc Robitaille.

“And the way he played in training camp,” Coach Andy Murray said Wednesday, “C.J. shouldn’t consider it a promotion to play with Ziggy and Stumpy. They should consider it a promotion, a privilege, to be playing with him.”

The coach visibly brightens at the mention of Johnson, who brings quality depth to a team some are calling the deepest in King history.

“Gordie Howe, you mean?” the coach cracked. “I think Craig Johnson’s playing unbelievable. If Craig Johnson can play like this in the regular season, we’ll let all our players miss a half a year and come back.

“He’s playing with a lot of hunger. He’s bigger, stronger. He’s on top of the puck. He’s making plays with the puck. It will be a challenge for Craig to try to sustain this level because he’s playing truly outstanding hockey right now.”

It was a challenge for Johnson just to get back on his feet. But after surgery left him with about a five-inch scar, he dived headlong into his comeback.

“Sometimes it takes something like this to show you how important the game is to you,” he said. “I know it’s just a game, but it’s something I love to do.”

A soon as it felt ready, Johnson said, he put his mended ankle to the test.

“I really wanted to get back to full strength,” he said, “so I tried to push it really hard this summer. I did a lot of different things on it, like jumping. I tried to play tennis on it. I just kept really busy. I did the weight program [the Kings] sent us. I did running. I just tried to do more than I ever had.”

By the end of July, he said, he had made almost a full recovery. “And I’d say now it’s completely healed,” he said.

No pain?

“None.”

He came into training camp more determined than ever to show he belonged, and according to strength and conditioning tests administered by the Kings before camp, only Mattias Norstrom was in better shape.

“When you’re out as long as I was,” Johnson said, “you’re excited to be back and you try to work as hard as you can to show them the injury hasn’t hindered you. I think that was the most important thing: to show them that I was 100%.”

He showed them, all right.

“He has worked unbelievably hard,” Murray said. “He’s got to be feeling really good about himself right now.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

King Salaries 2001-02

Ziggy Palffy: $6 million

Mathieu Schneider: $3.25 million

Felix Potvin: $3 million

Adam Deadmarsh: $2.75 million

Jozef Stumpel: $2.65 million

Bryan Smolinski: $2.3 million

Glen Murray: $1.975 million

Nelson Emerson: $1.9 million