Johnson spent one full season with the Lightning, scoring 21 points in 2000–01. On July 10, 2001, he was traded back to the Panthers with a sixth-round draft pick (later traded back to Tampa Bay) in 2003 in exchange for Václav Prospal. However, he missed the majority of his first season back in Florida from a head injury suffered on December 22, 2001, against the St. Louis Blues.