WBS Penguins Honor Adam Johnson, JD Forrest Provides Update on Neck Guard Mandate

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WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, in addition to Wednesday night's opponent Providence Bruins, skated to their respective blue lines prior to the playing of the national anthem to pay tribute to former Penguins forward Adam Johnson - showing some of his highlight reel goals during his tenure with the Penguins organization and concluding with a moment of silence prior to the game.

Both Penguins and Bruins' players also wore 'AJ47' sticker decals on their helmets. They also had an AJ47 decal on the boards in two locations at ice level - with one directly across from the Penguins tunnel the players use to come out onto the ice and to their bench, and the other in the corner of the Penguins offensive zone where the team shoots during the first and third periods.

Johnson, 29, tragically passed away after being cut by a skate during a game in England between his team, the Nottingham Panthers, and Sheffield.

"As a player, he was really fast, dangerous offensively, worked his buns off, but I think it's secondary to the kind of personality brought in the locker room," Penguins head coach JD Forrest said of Johnson. "It was a real dry sense of humor, but he always had a little quip. In locker rooms, you have certain guys that talk a lot. Johnny didn't really talk a lot, but he liked to kind of give it to the guys that did."

Forrest shared perhaps a closer bond than a coach and a player normally would. As an assistant coach coming into the Penguins organization, Forrest actually lived in a nearby apartment to Johnson during his time in the AHL with the Penguins.

"He lived a couple doors down from me when I was in my apartment. I mean, he was a really, really great person," Forrest added of Johnson.

Update on the AHL Penguins Neck/Wrist Guard Mandate

The Pittsburgh Penguins will be mandating that their AHL and ECHL players wear neck guards, as reported by Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports.

"[GM Kyle Dubas] and I have had discussions about it,” Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said to reporters after practice Tuesday in Cranberry. "Our [AHL] team has mandated that they're going to wear neck guards and wrist guards."

Following the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins' 3-1 loss to the Providence Bruins on Wednesday, Forrest explained why Penguins players weren't yet wearing neck guards:

"Right now, it's a matter of getting the equipment in. We're doing it," Forrest said, explaining, "It just happened, and so I think there's a lot of people looking at purchasing this protective gear. We're just trying to get it in as fast as we can and give the players the protection that they want to have. Right now, It's not for a lack of wanting to do it. It's just a matter of the timing of getting everything in. We're getting it as soon as we can."

Editor's Note: A special thank you to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins PR intern Conor Doherty for sending along the post-game audio with head coach JD Forrest while this reporter was 100 feet down the hall with Providence Bruins head coach Ryan Mougenel and players, attempting to be in two places at once.