A veteran of the First World War, Johnson did not begin playing competitive hockey until he was in his 20s and was nearly 30 when he first broke into the NHL.

[2] He arrived in England on March 25, 1916, and was in France by mid-July that year, re-assigned to the Fourth Division, where he helped deliver ammunition to the front.

In November 1917 he was admitted to hospital for verneral disease, and spent 84 days there, and on June 22, 1918, was awarded the Good Conduct Badge.

On the Eveleth team he was a teammate of his younger brother Adrian "Ade" Johnson who played at left wing.

[9] It was from Minneapolis that Johnson was recruited, along with his defensive partner Taffy Abel, to play for the newly formed New York Rangers.

[16] Johnson was lost to the Rangers early in the 1928–29 season when he suffered a broken ankle during a December game against the Maroons.

[18] Johnson missed virtually the entire regular season with the injury, but returned in time for the 1929 playoffs, and was credited with improving the Rangers' play as they reached the final against the Boston Bruins.

[20] When the impasse dragged into November, he threatened to quit the game altogether[21] before finally agreeing to a new three-year deal.

[14] In addition to being named to the first All-Star team in 1931–32, Johnson finished just one vote behind Howie Morenz for the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player.

[14] Seeing little playing time, and having an offer to coach a minor league team, Johnson requested that the Rangers give him his outright release following the season.

He quickly became the American Hockey Association's most popular star as large crowds attended games he participated in,[30] and was named an AHA all-star in 1939.

[34] After leaving hockey, Johnson worked construction in Washington, D.C.,[35] and later retired to the nearby community of Silver Spring, Maryland.