The Michigan native played four years at the University of North Dakota and backstopped the Fighting Hawks to a national championship in 2016. He had a 1.66 goals against average in 34 games that year with a .935 save percentage. In his three years as a starter, he has a 2.06 GAA and .916 save percentage.
"When he won a national championship, he was by far the best goalie in college hockey," said Devils assistant general manager Tom Fitzgerald. "He was unreal. We weren't looking for a goalie then, but he probably had many opportunities to leave at that time, but he went back to school and we kept our eye on him."
When the Devils were offered a draft pick for Scott Wedgewood and subsequently traded him to Arizona earlier in the season, Devils management felt the time was right to give Ken Appleby and Mackenzie Blackwood the opportunity to fight for the #3 spot within the organization, but with the injury bug taking a bite out of Cory Schneider, Keith Kinkaid and even Eddie Lack, whom they acquired in December as an insurance policy and to provide a veteran presence in goal in Binghamton, the weakness in their depth between the pipes was exposed and they decided to take a hard look at all their options to acquire another goalie who could compete for that third spot.
"We sent Scott Clemmensen out to see him a couple times and he said, 'He's an excellent skater and an excellent athlete and those are two areas that give a goalie the best chance to be the talent that they are. I know I can help him with what he needs to work on and draw the rest out of him. I think we should go after him.'" Fitzgerald said. "I agreed. I felt he made too much sense to not put our hat in the ring and try to sign him. So I called his agent, set up a meeting and did my best to sell him on the New Jersey Devils and what we have going on as an organization and, in the end, he chose us. It's great."
The 6-foot-1, 200-pound 23-year-old is known for his sound positional play, his calm demeanor in goal and his ability to make huge saves at key points in a game. As far as comparisons go, Fitzgerald set the bar high.
"Now, these guys have had long careers and won Stanley Cups so it might be unfair to compare him to this group at this point in his development, but I'm sure people had doubts about Jonathan Quick, and Tim Thomas and about Marc-Andre Fleury and the way they played because they really rely on their athleticism and reflexes and instincts, but we think Cam has that kind of potential if he puts in the work to see it through," he said. "We're really excited to have him in our system and about helping him develop into the best goalie he can be because if he's willing to work hard and make improvements, we think he could have a real good chance at being an NHL goalie some day."
Johnson arrived in Binghamton Monday night and didn't participate in the full practice on Tuesday, but did take shots at the end of the session. Johnson will not play tonight as Binghamton travels to Syracuse, but head coach Rick Kowalsky didn't rule out the possibility of him earning a start this weekend as they host Laval and Rochester on Friday and Saturday.
