"A lot of things I'm going to be following up with have JJ's imprint on them," Vanbiesbrouck said. "It's a big role to fill, big shoes to fill. I'm very grateful to JJ for all that he's meant to the organization."
Vanbiesbrouck, 54, will focus on men's, women's and sled hockey at the international level, as well as continuing to build junior hockey in the United States.
Junior hockey is an area Vanbiesbrouck knows well. He spent the past five seasons as general manager and director of hockey operations for Muskegon of the United States Hockey League. He also has been a volunteer for USA Hockey since 2008, including being vice president and chair of the organization's Junior Council since 2012.
Vanbiesbrouck is the winningest United States-born goaltender in NHL history, with 374 victories in 21 NHL seasons with the New York Rangers, Florida Panthers, Philadelphia Flyers, New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils from 1981-2002.
He also has the perspective of playing for U.S. teams at international tournaments, from the 1982 IIHF World Junior Championship to the 1998 Nagano Olympics, the first one to feature NHL players.
That experience with USA Hockey on and off the ice is what made Vanbiesbrouck an appealing candidate to follow Johannson.
"We really wanted to find someone that could really understand USA Hockey," USA Hockey executive director Pat Kelleher said. "That ended up being a differentiator for me with John. … We're in a good place but we're in a place where we need to advance. John's experience in hockey, his background with us, will allow him to make the most of the people we have because he really understands our organization and how everyone from volunteers to staff contributes to putting elite teams on the ice for the men, the women and the sled program."
Vanbiesbrouck said one of his goals is to continue to raise the number of United States-born players in the NHL, pointing to the Winnipeg Jets, who reached the Western Conference Final with 11 players born in the U.S., the most of final four teams in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"The percentages are growing," he said. "I look at it as, how do we grow it more? … I look at it with a little bit of goalie glasses too, how we can we increase the goaltending and having more U.S. goaltenders.
"I believe it starts with junior hockey. The growth of the USHL, the growth of the national program, what we do with our ADM (American Development Model) at the youth level is outstanding. We've been leaders on learning and development. I think that's really going to be the roots that we call on, our volunteers, to push us to grow the percentages."
In the shorter-term, Vanbiesbrouck said his focus is finding a coach for the U.S. at the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championship. David Quinn had been hired for that role April 20, but stepped down when he was named coach of the Rangers on Wednesday.
Vanbiesbrouck said his replacement likely will be an NCAA coach; Quinn was the coach at Boston University when he took the WJC job. A coach needs to be in place before the National Junior Summer Showcase, to be held in Kamloops, British Columbia, from July 28-Aug. 4, featuring practices and exhibition games between the U.S., Canada, Sweden and Finland.
"If you look at the recent hires in the NHL they've turned to the college game," Vanbiesbrouck said. "I do believe we're going to look in that area, to a college coach, to lead this team. … The college [job] allows them the time to slip away from their teams at a really critical time of the year and then slip back into that groove and have an impact on the second half of the season. I think we will look that route."
