Plot thickens in the Ryan Johansen situation with the Philadelphia Flyers

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Josh tupper
September 26, 2024 (9:16)

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The Philadelphia Flyers made the decision last month to terminate the contract of Ryan Johansen for breach and now the plot has thickened.

At last year's NHL trade deadline, the Philadelphia Flyers made a move to acquire Ryan Johansen from the Colorado Avalanche. The move reconnected Johansen with his former head coach John Tortorella. However, upon the move's completion, Johansen made the decision to not report due to injury.

This created some controversy as he had previously been eligible and able to play for the Avalanche. However, upon being traded, he somehow deemed himself unfit to play. The plot thickened on August 20th when the Flyers placed him on unconditional waivers for purpose of terminating his contract for breach.

Since that time Johansen has vowed to fight the termination of his deal and his agent issued details of the surgery he required. Now it appears that the plot has thickened, and despite receiving full approval to waive and terminate Johansen, it now appears the Flyers are unwilling to spend his entire cap hit due to possible penalties.

Anthony Di Marco shared that while the Flyers have officially cleared the salary cap hit that they are still waiting for official word. If the NHL were to decide that the Flyers were in fact not eligible to terminate this deal do to injury, the Flyers could be forced to shoulder cap penalties.

For the Flyers, who remain in a transitional year, the cap space this year holds far less value than the cap space they could be forced to use next season if they were unable to accommodate the cap hit. Last season in Colorado Johansen scored 13 goals and added 10 assists before injury derailed his season. At this time it is expected Johansen will miss the entire season and this injury could mark the end of his professional career.

If this is the end of his career, Johansen finishes having played 905 career games, scoring 202 goals and adding 376 assists. He ends his career with no Stanley Cups or major tournament victories.