Royals Agree to Terms with Defenseman Derik Johnson

Reading, PA – The Reading Royals of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the NHL, today announced that the team has agreed to terms with defenseman Derik Johnson. The Royals have announced six players as signed to ECHL Standard Players Contracts for the 2016-17 season. In addition to Johnson, Reading has announced the signing of forwards Justin Crandall, Olivier Labelle, Mike Pereira and Ian Watters and defenseman Mike Marcou.

Last year, Johnson (6’0/201) (26), who grew up in the Phoenix, Arizona, area, registered ten points (1g-9a) and twenty-eight penalty minutes, while playing to a plus-12 (+12) in fifty regular season games with the Royals. The highlights for Johnson in his first full year of pro included scoring his first pro goal—the team’s second in what proved to be a 5-0 win over the Adirondack Thunder on January 2, 2016. Johnson also earned his first chance to play in the American Hockey League when he was called up to the Springfield Falcons, where he played four games (0g-0a=0pts, 2 pims) in late March and early April. Johnson, who received the Royals’ “Unsung Hero” Award last year, finished the season by playing in eleven post-season games with the team (0g-2a=2pts, 6 pims).

Johnson got his first taste of pro hockey late in the 2014-15 season when he joined the Missouri Mavericks of the ECHL for five games (0g-0a=0pts, 6 pims) after completing his senior season at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. That year at UMD, Johnson registered five points (1g-4a) and a team-leading sixty-three penalty minutes in forty-games for the Bulldogs, who earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the Northeast Regional Finals before being eliminated by Boston University. Johnson, who led UMD in penalty minutes twice during his college career, registered seventeen points (2g-15a) and 211 penalty minutes in 108 career games with the Bulldogs. Johnson’s father, Jim, who had a thirteen year NHL career (during which he racked up a total of 1197 penalty minutes), is an assistant coach with the Edmonton Oilers of the NHL.

Season Tickets for the 2016-17 Reading Royals ECHL season are currently available. Call 610-898-7825 for more information or log onto www.royalshockey.com.