defensemen with a career-high 12 goals by January. He also ranked first on the Avalanche in goals, average ice time, blocked shots, and power-play goals. As such, he became the first Avalanche defenseman to be selected for the NHL All-Star Game since Rob Blake in 2003-04. However, Johnson did not compete in the All-Star Game nor the final 34 games of the season due to a knee injury. Despite this, Johnson signed a seven-year, $42 million extension with the Avalanche. Upon recovering from his knee injury, Johnson remained relatively healthy for the 2015–16 season and played in 73 games to reach the 500-game mark. He reached numerous milestones throughout the season including scoring his 50th career goal against the Dallas Stars on October 10, 2015. Nearly a month later, Johnson also reached 200 career points with an assist on François Beauchemin's goal against the Boston Bruins. He finished the regular season with 11 goals and 16 assists for third amongst Avalanche blueliners in scoring with 27 points. This marked the third straight season in which he ended the year as one of the top three scoring defenders on the team. During the 2017–18 NHL season Johnson played in his 600th NHL game on December 3, 2017, in a 7–2 loss to the Dallas Stars. At the time, Johnson led the team, and was the fifth highest in the league, in average ice time at 26:24 minutes. Johnson was suspended for two games on December 17, 2017, for boarding Tampa Bay Lightning forward Vladislav Namestnikov. On February 29, 2020, Johnson became the first defenseman from the 2006 draft to reach 300 points. He is the 37th US-born defenseman in NHL history to hit the 300-mark. Four games into the 2020–21 season, Johnson sustained a concussion after a hit from Minnesota Wild forward Jordan Greenway caused his head to make contact with the ice. He missed the remainder of the regular season, and while he returned to practice during the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs, Johnson was unable to play before the Avalanche were eliminated in the second round by the Vegas Golden Knights. With the addition of the Seattle Kraken to the NHL in advance of the 2021–22 season, the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft was scheduled to be held. Each team had the opportunity to protect only a certain number of players, and Johnson was among the Colorado players contractually guaranteed protection