On Wednesday, the Philadelphia Flyers traded Sean Walker to the Colorado Avalanche for a first-round pick, an asking price that management had long been firm on. It wasn’t a one-for-one swap though; general manager Daniel Briere had to take on the contract of former All-Star center Ryan Johansen to make the deal work.
Interestingly, the Flyers waived Johansen shortly after acquiring him. He unsurprisingly went unclaimed due to his still-large cap hit, and the team assigned him to the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Though Philadelphia could use some help at center, Johansen clearly isn’t the answer after a second consecutive down season. And with Scott Laughton’s name frequenting trade rumors, there were some early impressions and assumptions that perhaps Johansen could be a short-term replacement.
The 31-year-old forward has two years remaining on an eight-year, $64-million contract that he signed as a member of the Nashville Predators. His realized cap hit for the Flyers, however, is only $4 million since Nashville retained 50 percent of his salary in a trade to the Avalanche last summer. He has 13 goals and 10 assists in 63 games this season – a far cry from the 30 goal scorer and frequent 60 point producer he once was.
Briere provided some clarity on the situation in a press conference on Thursday, but in the process raised more questions than answers. In short, Johansen is not part of the team’s plans, and efforts will be made to move the center before Friday’s 3pm trade deadline.
“We will see if we can give him the chance to go somewhere else,” said Briere. “We haven’t decided what the future looks like for him yet. … We’re trying to see if there’s something we can do. Maybe there’s another team that has a need for him, but we’ve asked him to stand pat for a day or two.”
When asked why Johansen doesn’t fit, Briere was cryptic to say the least.
“I can’t really go into that at this point. We just have a different vision at this point, so that’s about all I can say. Maybe eventually I’ll be able to expand a little bit more.”
It was a bit unusual for Briere, who has been very transparent in his short tenure so far. The way he stepped around the question seemed to imply that he’s limited in what he can share. We’ll have to see if he can offer anything further when the circumstances eventually change.
Notably, Johansen has some history with John Tortorella in Columbus. He was the Blue Jacket’s first-line center while Tortorella was coach years ago, but the pair often didn’t see eye to eye. Johansen was benched, healthily scratched, and traded all under Tortorella’s watch. Despite that, both player and coach downplayed the rumors of a rocky relationship.
“Me and coach got along fine,” Johansen said after being traded away in 2016. “We had a couple of disagreements with things, but that’s part of the game and I think he was looking out for my best interests and wanted me to be the best I could be.”
Tortorella always maintained that ability was never a concern with Johansen, but inconsistency and maturity were. However, he believed it was up to the coaching staff to help eliminate the bad habits and get him to play at a high level regularly.
“I like the kid. I think certain days we have great progression, some days it’s a step backwards. He’s 23 years old. The greatest part is there’s a ton there, and we’re going to try to get it out of him,” the coach said after Johansen was traded.
Despite it being so long ago, they’ve never really shaken the impression that it wasn’t a good fit between player and coach. Perhaps there’s some truth to it, and a “been there, done that” effect is at play here from Tortorella’s side, Johansen’s, or both. Perhaps it’s just not a good fit, culturally or logistically. Johansen is on the other side of 30 and isn’t exactly an upgrade over any of the team’s current centers. This is all just speculation based on what we have in front of us.
In any event, don’t expect to see Ryan Johansen in a Flyers uniform now or in the future. Whether they can find a taker is a different story, but we’ll have an answer shortly.
