The Philadelphia Flyers were able to get a first-round pick for Sean Walker at the NHL trade deadline but that also required taking back center Ryan Johansen and his $4 million cap hit from the Avalanche. That came less than nine months after the Nashville Predators shipped the veteran to Colorado while retaining 50% of his $8 million cap hit.
The 31-year-old center reportedly had issues within the Avalanche locker room and also butted heads with John Tortorella in Columbus before being traded during the 2015-16 season. He’s now on his third team in less than a calendar year, and may not even be healthy enough to play.
General manager Danny Briere was a bit cryptic when speaking about Johansen after acquiring him and said that the team tried to find a landing spot for him prior to Friday’s 3 p.m. deadline. That didn’t come to fruition, however, and Johansen was expected to report to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Well, on Wednesday afternoon, we got our first report on what exactly might be keeping Johansen off the ice from The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz.
Kurz later reported that the Flyers “were unaware of any sort of injury when they acquired Johansen” from the Avalanche.
The disgruntled centerman is also being kept away from the Flyers locker room as the team continues to grow its developing culture as a hard-working group. While trying to resurrect Johansen’s career could turn the center into an asset via trade down the road, his health and attitude may thwart that.
Hopefully, Johansen is healthy and motivated to find his game here in Philadelphia, whether that be in the AHL or with the big club next season. We’ve recently seen the likes of Sean Monahan be treated as a cap dump — in fact, the Flames gave the Canadiens a first-round pick to take him off their hands — then traded for a first-round pick less than two years later.
Johansen is a buyout candidate for the Flyers this summer. That would save the Flyers just over $1.5 million next season while costing them $1.3 million in the following year. Of course, the Flyers could also pull a Predators and treat Johansen as a cap dump this summer. If he’s healthy enough to play, that is.
