Former Detroit Red Wings forward Steve Martinson is giving Calumet, Michigan native Ben Johnson a second chance, nine years after Johnson spent 13 months in prison on a sexual assault conviction in Windsor, Ontario.
Martinson, who had one goal and 84 penalty minutes in 10 games under Red Wings coach Jacques Demers in 1987-88, is the general manager and coach of the four-time Kelly Cup champion Allen Americans in the ECHL.
He signed the 31-year-old Johnson to an amateur tryout (ATO) contract on Monday. The Americans, a minor-league affiliate of the Ottawa Senators, will host the Tulsa Oilers on New Year’s Eve at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center in Allen, Texas, at 7:10 p.m.
The Americans will then play three games in three days against the Tahoe Knight Monsters at the Tahoe Blue Event Center in Stateline, Nevada. Friday and Saturday’s games are at 10:05 p.m., and Sunday starts at 6:05 p.m.
“Since Ben’s incident when he was 18 years old, he has become a man of faith, a husband, and a father of two,” Martinson said in a statement.
“The easy thing for us to do would be to not sign this player, but we believe in second chances, and we believe Ben is a man committed to using his situation as a learning opportunity for others.
“In his time with both the Kansas City Mavericks and Cincinnati Cyclones in our league, Ben was regarded as a good teammate and someone that has reformed his life.”
Last month, the coaching staff of the ECHL Adirondack Thunder, a farm team of the NHL New Jersey Devils, agreed to sign Johnson, but Adirondack ownership released Johnson less than 24 hours later after social media backlash.
In 2016, Johnson was sentenced to three years in prison for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl who was intoxicated in the bathroom stall of a Windsor nightclub in 2013. He served one month in jail in Windsor and 12 months in a Kingston prison.
A former member of the Windsor Spitfires and Belleville Bulls of the Ontario Hockey League and a third-round draft pick of the New Jersey Devils in 2012, Johnson was released by the Devils shortly after the guilty verdict was announced.
Since then, he’s averaged nearly a point per game (143 points in 182 ECHL games) with Adirondack, Orlando, Cincinnati and Kansas City and had 34 points in 39 games in Slovakia last year with HK Dukla Michalovce and HK Spisska Nova Ves.
Johnson had no comment on signing with the Americans, who were purchased in 2023 by former NFL linebacker Myles Jack and his mother, LaSonjia Jack. They are the first Black majority owners in ECHL history.
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