Jul. 5—”On July 1, (Osei-Tutu) called me and said Pittsburgh was going to offer me a two-year contract,” Johnstone said. “Right then and there I accepted it and went to celebrate with my family.
“Having a guy like Kyle Dubas in your corner is something special. For him to take a chance on me when he went over to Pittsburgh, it’s a big opportunity. I’m planning to make him look good.”
Johnstone is the third Sacred Heart product to sign an NHL deal, following Jason Cotton, with Carolina in 2020, and Justin Danforth with Columbus, 2021, after a couple of strong seasons in Russia; he was the first Pioneer to play in the NHL.
“He’s a tremendous leader off the ice. He respects the game,” Pioneers coach C.J. Marottolo said. “He does all the little things that college teams like and pro teams like.”
Johnston played a five-game stint with South Carolina of the ECHL after his senior year at Sacred Heart, then signed with the Newfoundland Growlers, Toronto’s ECHL affiliate, for 2021-22. He played 58 games there, plus four on a tryout with the Toronto Marlies of the AHL.
He signed an AHL deal with the Marlies last year and scored 22 points in 69 games, seeing his offensive game develop, gaining the patience to make plays.
“I got a little more confident with the Growlers and the Marlies,” Johnstone said. “The coaching staff and the development staff were great.”
His new contract is a two-way deal, meaning it’ll pay $775,000 in the NHL, less if he’s with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL.
“I’m just really proud of him,” Marottolo said. “Starting out in the ECHL, he had to prove himself, and he did a very good job of that. Then all year with the Marlies, he had to prove himself at that level. He played an effective (third-/fourth-line forward role) for that team, played a 200-foot game, created offense when he had the opportunity.”
Johnstone was a two-year captain at Sacred Heart. He had captained the Chicago Steel to the USHL’s Clark Cup championship in 2016-17, the year before he got to Fairfield.
“You always want to leave a place better than when you found it,” Johnstone said.
“It’s great to see the school develop, especially with the new rink (Martire Family Arena). … You’re going to see more guys sign NHL contracts.”
