Mark Madden: Jack Johnson should not be primary scapegoat for Penguins' early playoff exit

The NBA’s San Antonio Spurs missed the playoffs for the first time in 22 seasons. Here in Pittsburgh, we know whose fault that is.

It’s Jack Johnson’s.

The Penguins defenseman is responsible for the national debt, social injustice, the spread of covid-19 from China, the Pirates’ low payroll and, not least, the Penguins’ postseason exit at the hands of Montreal.

True, Evgeni Malkin was 0 for 21 from the field in that series, but check the tape: Johnson blocked most of those shots.

Johnson also made JuJu fumble.

That’s life in the dumb lane: Surely make you lose your mind.

It’s easier to blast Johnson if you didn’t pay $224.99 (free shipping) for an authentic copy of his jersey. Not many Johnson jerseys out there. Plenty of Malkins, though.

Johnson has certainly been rotten since signing with the Penguins for too much and too long in 2018. But his constant crucifixion (mostly via social media’s echo chamber) drove general manager Jim Rutherford to oddly throw Justin Schultz under the bus when Rutherford spoke at season’s end.

Schultz was Johnson’s defensive partner and also horrific. But there was room under that bus for both, and for plenty of others. Matt Murray might have trouble flagging down said bus, particularly if it approached from a severe angle in a tie game. Better call Uber.

Contrasting to Twitter’s beatdown of Johnson is his reception at PPG Paints Arena. It’s not been heroic, but I’ve never heard him booed. (Then again, I sit way up high in the press box. Great view, free snacks/drinks and I don’t pay to get in. It’s awesome. You should try it.)

I did hear Ron Stackhouse get booed.

Stackhouse played for the Penguins from 1974-82. No Pittsburgh athlete ever got abused by home fans like Stackhouse did. It was constant, and it was ugly. Stackhouse didn’t need social media. He got vilified the old-fashioned way: In person. Stackhouse couldn’t log off.

Stackhouse came to the Penguins in a trade with Detroit. A goalie named Rutherford went the other way. It was later said that the Red Wings made too many changes at the deadline.

Stackhouse was a good defenseman with excellent puck skills. He topped out at 71 points in a season, and also had 60. He made the NHL All-Star Game in 1980. The Penguins could have used him on the power play vs. Montreal. (He shot right, so…second unit, probably.)

But Stackhouse was big, at 6-foot-3. He didn’t hit or fight in an era where that was required. He wore a helmet when not everyone did.

Stackhouse was soft. The crowd at the Civic Arena noticed. “Hit ‘em with your purse, Stacky!” was a frequent expression of contempt.

That wasn’t all that got said.

Stackhouse, unfortunately, is not a far cry from outhouse, not to mention a more scatological variation of the term. Things got gynecological, too. Stackhouse got jeered when he was introduced as part of the starting lineup. He often got excoriated when he merely touched the puck.

Pejoratives got yelled constantly, at high volume, by lots of people, often accompanied by boos, especially when the Penguins struggled. That wasn’t as often as you might think: The Penguins made the playoffs in seven of Stackhouse’s nine seasons. He was a big part of that.

But Stackhouse got abused when the Penguins won, too. It became background noise. Part of a typical night.

The arena wasn’t half-empty, either: Average attendance never dipped below 10,000 during Stackhouse’s tenure. Those were good numbers by the standard of the day.

Not every ticket-buyer castigated Stackhouse. But some nights, it sure seemed that way. Perhaps you had to be there, but it was torrential and it was vicious.

Stackhouse admitted bitterness when I interviewed him years later. But his feelings apparently recovered enough for him to be one of over 50 ex-Penguins to attend the franchise’s final regular-season game at Mellon (Civic) Arena in 2010.

Stackhouse also appeared on the Penguins’ 50th anniversary schedule magnet in 2016, which likely made things totally right as far as he’s concerned.

Stackhouse didn’t deserve what he got. He was an above-average NHL defenseman who produced and gave his best.

Johnson gives his best. But that’s where the comparison ends.

Making Johnson the primary scapegoat for the Penguins’ quick exit is silly, though. Bottom-pair defensemen don’t drag good teams down single-handedly. Getting knocked out by the No. 24 seed required a vast conspiracy that might befuddle the Warren Commission.