Former Nashville Predators forward Greg Johnson was named the second captain in franchise history after original captain Tom Fitzgerald was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks near the end of the 2001-2002 season.
His first full season as captain coincided with the Preds’ fifth anniversary season as an NHL franchise, and as such his 2002-2003 Navy Set 1 game worn jersey features the fifth anniversary patch.
Due to a significant injury (concussion) forcing Johnson to miss more than three months of action, the wear on this jersey is extremely light.
This would have made photomatching the jersey a bit of a chore, however there is one unique feature that is present in most photos of Greg Johnson from the four away games he played in 2002-2003 prior to his injury.
Loose threads.
Johnny’s jersey has a “forked” set of threads flying off the bottom of the captain’s “C”. Given that he wore this jersey in just four matchups from 10/11/2002 to 10/19/2002 before missing three months, it makes it much easier to determine when different sets were worn.
Thanks to the MeiGray population reports and a decent amount of photos on Getty Images, it’s pretty clear that these loose threads are only present in Navy Set 1 and do not persist in Navy Set 2 or Navy Set 3.
I also happen to be the former owner of Greg Johnson’s 2002-2003 Navy Set 3 gamer, so those were pretty easy to compare.
As stated previously, Greg Johnson wore this jersey in just 4 games before suffering a concussion that cost him most of the 2002-2003 season. He scored 1 goal and 1 assist in those games.
Johnson tragically took his own life on July 9th, 2019. He will be always be an important member of the foundation of the Nashville Predators.