In
1982, Johnson began his
National Hockey League career when he became the head coach of the
Calgary Flames, a position he held for five seasons. In the
1985–86 season, he coached the Flames to the
Stanley Cup Final, where they lost in five games to the
Montreal Canadiens. On May 20, 1987, it was announced that Johnson would resign from the Flames for become the executive director of the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States (now commonly referred to as
USA Hockey). He had two years remaining on his contract but felt that it was time to move on and that the Flames job was a "great job". He was 193-155-52 in Calgary. He served in the position for three years. On June 12, 1990, the
Pittsburgh Penguins hired Johnson to serve as head coach while also naming
Scotty Bowman as director of player development and recruitment. In
his first season, led by superstar
Mario Lemieux, the Penguins reached the postseason for only the second time in the past nine seasons. They advanced all the way to the
Stanley Cup Final and faced the
Minnesota North Stars. The Penguins lost two of the first three games before dominating the next three, which included an 8–0 victory in Game 6 to clinch the first
Stanley Cup in franchise history.
Brain cancer and death In August 1991, as he was preparing the U.S. team for the upcoming Canada Cup tournament, Johnson suffered a
brain aneurysm and was hospitalized, where he was diagnosed with
brain cancer. He was then flown on a private plane to Colorado with Dr. Dan Thompson of Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh. He began treatment and turned the day-to-day supervision of the Penguins over to his three assistant coaches and
Scotty Bowman, the team's director of player development and recruitment, who was named interim head coach. Though the team was "coached by committee", Johnson continued to oversee them from his hospital room by way of
videotape and remained in contact by
fax machine. On November 26, 1991, Johnson died of brain cancer in
Colorado Springs, Colorado. After his death, his catchphrase was emblazoned on a banner hanging over the ice at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison and was painted at the bluelines on the ice in Pittsburgh's
Civic Arena. In memoriam, it remained on the ice there for the remainder of the season. In addition, Penguins players would wear a patch on the left sleeve of their jerseys with the word "BADGER" under his birth and death years. Pittsburgh also put his name on the Stanley Cup a second time after their second straight Cup victory in . "He's such a tremendous person...We would like to win it again for him," said
Mark Recchi, a member of the team in 1991. At the team's 1992 victory celebration at
Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, Bowman's first remark was that "the coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins will always be – Bob Johnson". The team used "A Great Day For Hockey" as their marketing slogan for the 2008–09 season. On June 12, 2009, exactly 19 years to the day of Johnson's hiring, the Pittsburgh Penguins won their third Stanley Cup. Furthermore, the Penguins won their fourth Stanley Cup, 26 years to the day that Johnson was hired, on June 12, 2016. "A Great Day For Hockey" now adorns the entrance of the
PPG Paints Arena, the current home arena of the Penguins. At the time of his death Johnson's 234 NHL victories were a record for an American born coach.
Dan Bylsma,
John Tortorella,
Peter Laviolette and
Mike Sullivan have since eclipsed this mark. ==Head coaching record==