Boston Bruins invite forward Tyler Johnson to training camp on PTO

The Boston Bruins have invited veteran forward Tyler Johnson to their 2024 training camp on a professional tryout agreement, the club announced Saturday afternoon.

Johnson, 34, collected 17 goals and 31 points in 67 games with the Chicago Blackhawks during the 2023-24 regular season. The Spokane, Washington product spent the last three seasons with the Blackhawks after being acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning in a salary cap-related move during the 2021 offseason.

An undrafted and undersized player, Johnson signed his first professional contract with the Lightning in 2021 after concluding a stellar four-year junior career with the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs, with whom he won a league championship and the Memorial Cup in 2008.

Johnson quickly established himself as a top-six forward in Tampa Bay. The 5’8″, 185-pound forward posted his finest season in 2014-15, collecting 29 goals and 72 points in 77 games during the regular season before adding 13 goals and 23 points in 26 playoff contests as the Lightning reached the 2015 Stanley Cup Final.

Although his effectiveness waned into his final years with the Lightning, Johnson remained a fixture in the lineup on their Stanley Cup-winning teams in 2020 and 2021. He collected four goals and seven points in both playoff runs as the Lightning won their second and third championships.

In July 2021, the Lightning traded Johnson — who had three years remaining at a $5 million cap hit — and a 2023 second-round pick to the Blackhawks in exchange for the contract of Brent Seabrook, who remained on long-term injured reserve and never played a game for Tampa Bay. Johnson struggled to remain healthy over his tenure with a rebuilding Blackhawks team.

In 738 career games over parts of 12 NHL seasons with the Lightning and Blackhawks, Johnson has collected 193 goals and 431 points. He’s added 32 goals and 65 points in 116 playoff contests.