The Vancouver Canucks have added a former NHL defenceman to their pro-scouting team.

Canucks General Manager Patrik Allvin announced on Monday afternoon that the organization is bringing in Jack Johnson as a pro scout.

Johnson was a first-round pick of the Carolina Hurricanes in 2005, selected third overall – when current Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford was the General Manager of the team. Johnson spent his draft-plus-one season at the University of Michigan, where he scored 10 goals and 32 points while recording 149 penalty minutes in 38 games.

Just over a year after selecting him so high in the draft, the Hurricanes moved off of the then 19-year-old defenceman, shipping him and Oleg Tverdovsky to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Tim Gleason and Eric Belanger. Johnson would make his NHL debut later that season for the Kings, where he went pointless and finished with a minus-five rating.

The left-shot defenceman spent the following four and a half seasons in Los Angeles before he was the centrepiece of the Jeff Carter trade, returning to his hometown team, the Columbus Blue Jackets. Along with Johnson, the Blue Jackets received a first-round pick in 2013, which became forward Marko Dano. Dano only played 38 games split between two seasons with the Blue Jackets, topping out with eight goals and 21 points in 35 games in his rookie season.

The Columbus, Ohio native stayed with the Blue Jackets for the following six seasons, before Rutherford signed him to a five-year, $3.25 million AAV contract as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2018. After just two seasons in Pittsburgh, Johnson was bought out before the 2020-21 season.

Now an NHL veteran, Johnson bounced around the league for the following five seasons, with stops with the New York Rangers, Colorado Avalanche, and Chicago Blackhawks, before officially wrapping up his career back in Columbus just last season. In his final year, the defensive defenceman tallied six assists and a minus-13 rating while averaging 12:52 minutes per game.

With his playing days now behind him, Johnson is continuing his professional hockey career, now as a pro scout for the Vancouver Canucks.