The Tahoe Knight Monsters have announced that they have signed defenseman Jake Johnson for the 2024-25 season. Johnson joins the Knight Monsters after spending the end of the 2022-23 season with the Fort Wayne Komets. The 26-year-old defenseman burst onto the scene, putting up two goals in three games at the end of the 2022-23 regular season, and would add two more assists in seven games during the 2023 Kelly Cup Playoffs.
Johnson is coming off his first full season with Fort Wayne, which saw him put up three goals and 16 assists for 19 points in 43 games. Heading into next season, Johnson will probably be a nice bottom pairing piece on the blue line with some offensive upside to his game. One of the statistics that will catch your eye about the 6’0,185lb defenseman is that he was a +32 with the Bobcats and was a +20 last season with the Komets, which shows that not a lot of goals are scored with him on the ice.
Prior to going pro, the Bloomington, Minnesota native would play two seasons in the USHL, where he put up four goals and 26 assists for 30 points while spending time with the Sioux Falls Stampede and Cedar Rapids RoughRiders before making the jump to the NCAA level. Johnson would then spend three years at RPI before playing his final collegiate season at Quinnipiac, where he would win a National Championship with the Bobcats. In 146 games at the NCAA level, he would put up seven goals and 38 assists for 45 points.
