Adam Johnson, who appeared in 13 NHL games with the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 2018–19 and 2019–20 seasons, was gravely injured while playing in an Elite Ice Hockey League game with the Nottingham Panthers on Saturday.
The 29-year-old forward had his throat cut by a skate blade during the second period of Nottingham’s game against the Sheffield Steelers, according to local outlets. The Panthers trailed the Steelers by a 2–1 score at the time of the incident.
The BBC reported that Johnson was taken to a local hospital in Sheffield. The game was suspended at the 13:47 mark of the second period and did not resume, with fans in attendance being asked to leave the arena shortly thereafter.
Johnson, who hails from Hibbing, Minnesota, signed with the Panthers for the 2023–24 season after spending the previous year with the Augsburger Panther in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga.
The left-handed forward began his professional career in 2017 after spending two seasons at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, with whom he won an NCHC championship in the 2016–17 season.
Johnson spent the first three years of his professional career in the Penguins organization, collecting four points (one goal, three assists) in 13 NHL games over parts of two seasons with Pittsburgh.
In 257 career AHL games with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, Ontario Reign, and Lehigh Valley Phantoms, Johnson racked up 50 goals and 137 points. He added a goal and an assist in four playoff contests with WBS and Ontario.
BBC reporter Peter Spencer was on the scene in Sheffield and shared an account of the incident on Twitter:
“Nottingham Panthers player badly hurt after a collision in mid-ice. Paramedics are now on the ice, players are forming a ring around him and now screens are up around him. Awful scenes here at Sheffield Arena. The period is ended.”
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