from Scott Bell of the Dallas Morning News,

While Johns spoke about his return to the ice, he had waited to go in-depth and open up about his return to hockey until Tuesday, when he detailed the battle in an interview with The Athletic.

Johns told The Athletic that part of his journey back to the ice included severe bouts with depression, which included sitting in his bed and composing suicide notes in his head.

“I would wake up at 4 in the morning and think about it more, then I would take some anxiety medicine during the day to take a nap and it just put me into a vicious cycle,” Johns said. “I wasn’t really eating, I wasn’t sleeping, I wasn’t doing anything. … It took me a long time to escape that cycle of thinking those horrible things.”

He credited his girlfriend, Taylor Zakarin, as well as support from the Stars organization in helping make his comeback a reality. The Stars allowed him space during the 2018-2019 season, but also did a good job of finding a balance between keeping him engaged with the team and not pressuring him to return too quickly.

Stars general manager Jim Nill encouraged Johns to attend team meetings, skate more often and be around the team on game day. He also started attending team social functions again.

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