Larry Johnston

Playing career

Larry Johnston was selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1965 draft. Before that, he had spent two seasons with the Johnstown Jets of the Eastern Hockey League and the Tulsa Oilers of the Central Hockey League. He was later traded to the Springfield Indians of the American Hockey League in exchange for Bruce Gamble. When the Los Angeles Kings bought the Springfield club, it became the Springfield Kings.

Johnston appeared in four games for the Los Angeles Kings during the 1967–68 season, picking up four penalty minutes and a minus-7 plus-minus rating. He would not play in the NHL again for three more years. In 1969, he was named the Springfield team’s most valuable player, and he led the AHL in penalty minutes in both 1968 and 1969. On February 20, 1970, the Kings traded Johnston, Dale Rolfe, and Gary Croteau to the Detroit Red Wings for Garry Monahan, Brian Gibbons, and Matt Ravlich.

Reaching the NHL

He began in the CHL with the Fort Worth Wings before quickly moving back to the AHL with the Baltimore Clippers. The next season, he played 12 games for the Tidewater Wings of the AHL and then was called up to the Detroit Red Wings to finish the 1971–72 campaign. After a decade in the minors, Johnston finally found a steady NHL role with Detroit.

In his first full season, he posted a plus-20 rating, 24 points, and 111 penalty minutes, standing out on a Red Wings team that had lost its way after its Stanley Cup years in the 1950s. He played three seasons in Detroit before signing with the Michigan Stags of the World Hockey Association in July 1974. He stayed with the Stags until a series of injuries ended his playing time. The franchise moved to Baltimore during the 1974–75 season and became the Baltimore Blades.

According to the book Icing On The Plains: The Rough Ride of Kansas City's NHL Scouts, when the team relocated, Johnston argued that the WHA had not properly followed the terms of his contract. The league responded that Johnston was not giving enough effort on the ice. Blades executive director Skip Feldman told the Kansas City Star that Johnston did not want to play in Baltimore and was not meeting expectations, calling his release a mutual agreement. Published reports also noted that Johnston’s agent, Bob Wolfe, told Baltimore media that his client had essentially bought out the rest of his contract for the amount he was owed for the remainder of the season.