DETROIT — Out of jail for seven years, Michigan native Ben Johnson said he's "learned lessons the hard way" and seeks a second chance to play in the National Hockey League.

A high school hockey prodigy from Calumet, Mich., a village of 692 people in the Upper Peninsula, Johnson was sentenced to three years in prison for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl who was intoxicated in the bathroom stall of a Windsor nightclub.

Released in Watertown, N.Y., in 2018, after serving 12 months in a jail in Kingston, Ontario, Johnson is now 31, out of work and says he's "better, stronger, faster" than when he was a member of the Windsor Spitfires in the Ontario Hockey League and drafted in the third round by the New Jersey Devils in 2012.

He's 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds, living in Minneapolis with his wife and two daughters, hoping "for one GM to take a chance on me," he told The Detroit News.

His agent, Thorsten Wirth of Five Hole Sports Agency in Germany, has made European connections and Johnson has contacted at least three NHL teams and minor league teams in the American Hockey League and ECHL.

The coaching staff of the ECHL Adirondack Thunder, an affiliate of the NHL Devils, agreed to sign Johnson on Nov. 18, 2025, but Adirondack ownership released Johnson less than 24 hours later after social media backlash.

"I really think I can play in the NHL today," said Johnson, a forward who had 34 points in 39 games in Slovakia last year with HK Dukla Michalovce and HK Spisska Nova Ves.

"My speed is still where it should be, my shot has gotten better. I don't want to sell myself because it sounds kind of foolish. I just want that opportunity, the open door to play and just show that I can be an impact player. I've gotten way better at hockey because of these storms in my life."

The NHL doesn't have a specific policy for handling sexual assault cases or convictions, but commissioner Gary Bettman addresses them on a case-by-case basis, guided by a clause in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, (CBA) related to a personal conduct policy.

The league may suspend a player pending a formal review if their failure to suspend would "create a substantial risk of material harm to the legitimate interests and/or reputation of the League."

Contacted by The News about Johnson's case, the league declined comment.

In 1995, the Pittsburgh Penguins signed forward Billy Tibbetts after he served 2 1/2 years in prison. Tibbetts pleaded guilty to raping a 15-year-old girl in 1994 at an outdoor drinking party in Scituate, Mass. While on probation for the rape case, he was convicted of assault and battery in a separate incident and sentenced to jail.

Tibbetts played three years in the NHL with two goals in 82 games with the Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers.

"I've really done my homework as far as trying to get in contact with as many people as I can," Johnson said. "I'm trying to get my name out there. There's always an opportunity to go back to Slovakia again or potentially Germany but there's an urgency now. Time is sensitive here in America."

Michigan's Mr. Hockey

Only two juniors have won Michigan's prestigious "Mr. Hockey" award as the top high school player in the state: Former Detroit Red Wings forward Justin Abdelkader (2004, Mona Shores High School, Muskegon) and Ben Johnson (2011, Calumet), who shared the award with Gerald Mayhew (2011, Maple Grove in Brownstown).

Johnson had 37 goals and 77 points in 30 games with the Calumet Copper Kings, a nickname tied to the region's copper mining history.

After going his first 23 games with the Spitfires without a goal in 2012, he finished with 18 goals and was drafted by the Eastern Conference champion Devils, who had just advanced to the Stanley Cup final before losing to the L.A. Kings.

"The first thing that got me hooked on hockey was seeing Steve Yzerman and Nicklas Lidstrom winning the Stanley Cups," Johnson said. "They literally raised the spirits of my uncles, my great uncles. All of us were watching. It was amazing what hockey could do to a culture. That's what I wanted to try to do."

Johnson was on a direct path to the NHL until St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 2013. It was the final day of the OHL season and the Spitfires had just lost 4-0 against the Plymouth Whalers (now the Flint Firebirds) and missed the playoffs.

Johnson, who was 18 at the time, joined teammates for an end-of-season gathering at the now-defunct Mynt nightclub in downtown Windsor. Charged with sexual assault in 2013, Johnson was found guilty at age 21 in September 2016. Hours after the guilty verdict was delivered, the Devils started the process of terminating his contract.

"In 2017, I went to prison for things that were alleged to have happened," Johnson wrote on Instagram last week. "I’ve already served 13 months in Canadian custody for such damaging accusations. By grace, I came out with a message to proclaim.

"It’s important to note. I’m not justifying my actions from that night, but on the contrary, God promises to use our former lostness. When people slander our name, and harm us, He promises to use it for our benefit. He changes our heart’s desires."

Finding faith in prison

By his own admission, Johnson said he wasn't "chasing after Jesus when I was going into the nightclubs." Baptized as a child at First Apostolic Lutheran Church in Calumet, he said he rediscovered faith in the Windsor jail on Nov. 21, 2017.

"I had just lost my appeal with the (Ontario) Court of Appeal," Johnson said. "A whole new sense of anxiety and fear overcame me. I was in this suicidal cell area called the bucket, away from the general population because they thought I was so mentally unfit.

"I was weeping uncontrollably and I thought, 'What's going on in my life?' That's when I saw a book on the floor and on the cover it said, 'Redemption.' I started reading Genesis 37 and all of a sudden, I really understood that this book is alive and powerful. ... I know that God is speaking directly to my soul in this book."

Johnson said he continues to pray daily and has started a non-profit organization called, "Defend the Truth Ministries," which aims to help and support "a generation of God-fearing men and women to boldly proclaim and defend God's truth around the world."

He's also launched a TikTok account to share scripture from the Bible and provide hope for people of all denominations.

"I had to learn the hard way," Johnson said. "Obviously, it would be an amazing thing to play in the NHL. That would be a dream come true. But my biggest message is that the greatest dream that ever could happen is that I have a real relationship with Jesus Christ."

Criticizing the NHL

Johnson has also been critical of the NHL as he looks to write a new chapter in his hockey career.

After scoring 66 goals with 128 points in 191 OHL games with the Spitfires and Belleville Bulls, he averaged nearly a point per game (143 points in 182 ECHL games) with Adirondack, Orlando, Cincinnati and Kansas City.

"When I look at the NHL, I see a league that has the image of unity and all inclusive but when I take a peek underneath the surface, what I really see is a league that is pro cancel and pro silencing," he wrote on Instagram last week.

"It's something that is affecting me, my wife and kids personally because the NHL has closed the door on my opportunity to continue to chase down my dream of playing in the NHL one day and they closed the opportunity to make a paycheck in America playing hockey."

Johnson knows his next chapter may be written in Slovakia but he hasn't given up hope in 2025.

"I'm just trying to play hockey in America," Johnson said. "People are saying, 'No Ben, you can't. You're not allowed, basically, is the way I'm getting it. You've been canceled.

"When I got drafted at the young age that I did, I was not even close to being ready mentally, spiritually, physically, all these things. But I am now. I'm ready for a second chance."

©2025 The Detroit News. Visit detroitnews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.