On Oct. 10, 2009, 10 former Canadiens players gathered in the Centennial Plaza at Bell Centre to mark the 100th anniversary as a National Hockey Association and NHL team. The 10 had played 6,839 games wearing the 'CH' jersey - 6,838 not counting Johns.
Yet that one game, played at the Montreal Forum on Jan. 5, 1966, made Johns an important piece of the Canadiens' past, a member of the family as valued as any Hockey Hall of Famer who had played hundreds more.
Among 760 others, the name of Johns is engraved on a hulking monument that anchors the Bell Centre square honoring a century of the Canadiens. It has since moved from the west side of the arena, where it was unveiled, to the east.
On the south face is the name of every man who played even a portion of one game for the Canadiens through their first 100 years, from the 1909-10 season through 2008-09. Careers laid end to end, the 761 played 100,497 regular-season games.
The alphabetical tribute begins with Reg Abbott, a center in 1952-53 who wore No. 4 for all three of his games before the jersey was assigned the following season to a rookie named Jean Béliveau. It ends with Dainius Zubrus, a forward who played 139 games from 1998-2001.
Don Johns appears nine names from the bottom of the fifth of 11 columns; there are 70 names in each of the first 10 columns, 61 in the last. Johns is between Rosario Joanette (center, two games, 1944-45) and Allan Johnson (forward, two games, 1956-57).
"I'm glad they don't list the players' number of games," Johns joked when we spoke that day. "It's very special to be on that monument. At this time of my life, it's very enjoyable to have a small bit of recognition for the years I played hockey.
"I was surprised that Réjean Houle called me when the Canadiens started planning the 100th anniversary. We spoke at a reception he invited me to and ever since then I've been included in some of the events. It's been very nice. They're a first-class organization."
The No. 25 Canadiens jersey Johns was given for the monument ceremony -- his number for his single game, worn by four different players in 1965-66 -- was the only one he owned. It was the first Montreal sweater he'd pulled on in almost 44 years, the same one that was placed beside the altar on Friday.
Johns began his career during the early 1950s with the junior Canadiens, choosing Montreal over Toronto when the former arranged for his schooling and hockey.
A native of St. George, Ontario, he moved on to play two seasons for Winnipeg of the Western Hockey League, where he was claimed by the New York Rangers in the June 1960 intraleague draft.