Philadelphia Flyers
Why Did Flyers Waive Ryan Johansen? NHL Insider Weighs In
Injured forward Ryan Johansen is no longer on the Philadelphia Flyers‘ roster after being waived with the intention of contract termination last week following a “material breach.”
But, after the situation remained idle for so long leading up to this point, what was the material breach? Why did the Flyers choose to waive Johansen now?
In his late offseason edition of “32 Thoughts“, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman weighed in with his understanding of the Johansen situation.
“Agent Kurt Overhardt is preparing for a fight, and the Flyers wouldn’t pursue this without a behind-the-scenes wink from the NHL,” Friedman said.
Essentially, no team would put themselves out there like this unless they knew they had a case like the Flyers did. As Elliotte said above, the Flyers certainly had an idea of where things could or should go after reviewing the possibilities.
Added Friedman: “I don’t like to question injuries, especially since anyone who’s played 905 [regular season] games (like Johansen) is guaranteed to have legitimate ones. I’m told the key will be everyone navigating how he went from not missing games and practices in Colorado to how he was unable to play for either Philadelphia or AHL Lehigh Valley.
“The timing is a little weird, which probably has something to do with video of Johansen dancing at his wedding. Again, I wouldn’t try to handicap this, except for saying the NHL and NHLPA hate risking precedent from an arbitrator, so a settlement is always the preference without an air-tight case.”
Johansen, 32, dubiously appeared in all 63 possible regular season games for the Colorado Avalanche last season before being traded to the Flyers in an NHL trade deadline deal on March 6.
Johansen had been beginning to find his footing in Colorado shortly before the trade took place, but that was ultimately cut short when he became one of the pieces necessary to yield the Flyers a first-round pick in exchange for veteran defenseman Sean Walker.
But, if Johansen insisted on playing through the “severe hockey injury”, as Overhardt called it, before arriving in Philadelphia, the NHLPA is going to have a hard time buying his argument.
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I’m thinking Johansen is ready to move on from the NHL and start his new life back in Nashville. Just a bit of snooping on the internet and you find the Johansens have set up a foundation in Dallas. This fight, it’s between his agent and Flyer management. I suspect an arthritic hip which would allow him to dance at his wedding, but playing hockey a bit uncomfortable.
But his agent said it requires major surgury. That’s more than just an arthirtic hip.
That’s what agents do.
I agree probably ready to be post nhl is right . Agent is a smoke screen . Johansson is a whiner , always has been .
id rather watch cates all year . Don’t want Johansson here at all. It was to clean the balance sheet of the team that was dumping him . We get the pick , they rent walker to replace Bynum while we writeoff the money . They got their center from Buffalo to try and replace Kadri . Johansson isn’t Kadri I can tell u that
Robert Wickens danced with his new wife at his wedding too,but he is still ina wheelchair
They will settle…half and half I am thinking…..Flyers get cap relief for $2M and Johansen pockets the other $2M the Flyers owe him…..everyone moves on and satisfied with the outcome. As for the Agency….KO Sports……they will suffer in the public relations dept…..GMs stick together and have long memories.
Johansen is a liar. End of story.
Man, I saw every Avs game last season, all the home ones live, and I don’t remember him beginning to find his footing right before he got traded. Maybe you’re talking about that 2 goal game he had near the end but believe me it was an anomaly and those were the only goals he scored in the last 28 games of his season. He looked like he was skating in mud all season long and it only got worse as the season progressed. He still clearly had NHL hands but was painfully, almost indescribably, slow on the ice.
Let Nic D. go one on one with him