If Johnny Cash played hockey: right wing, rated 84

Johnny Cash as a hockey player: scouting report

Johnny Cash would play right wing, and he would never go offside, because he walks the line. The boom chicka boom rhythm of his records with the Tennessee Two was steady, driving and impossible to knock off the beat, and that is exactly how he would skate. Skating is the best thing on his card. He would go up and down the right side all night at the same relentless pace, forechecking hard, backchecking harder and never seeming to tire.

His goaltending grade is nearly as high, which says a lot about his composure. Cash grew up working the cotton fields in Dyess, Arkansas, served in the Air Force as a radio operator copying Morse code in Germany and then walked into Sun Records in Memphis. He recorded live albums at Folsom Prison and San Quentin in front of some of the toughest audiences anywhere, and a performer who can hold that room will not flinch when a breakaway comes at him. His passing is solid, so he can carry the puck through the neutral zone and find a teammate.

His shot is the weak spot, so he is a worker and a playmaker more than a goal scorer. Goalie is a strong second spot and center a usable third. Late in his career he found a whole new audience with his American Recordings albums, proof that his game holds up over a long season. Pair him with a finishing center who can bury chances and a physical left winger, and put him on the penalty kill, where his legs and his poise matter most.

Plays like A tireless skating winger who keeps the rhythm all game long

Put Johnny Cash in your lineup

8 rolls, a starting six and a bench, 82 games. Can you go 82-0? Free, no account.