Flyers place former first-round pick on unconditional waivers for contract termination

The Flyers announced they’ve placed center Ryan Johansen on unconditional waivers to terminate his contract following a “material breach.” Johansen is expected to clear waivers and file a grievance with the NHLPA following his termination, reports Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.

Philadelphia acquired Johansen from the Avalanche before the trade deadline, taking on his reduced $4M cap hit to provide relief in the deal that sent defenseman Sean Walker to Colorado. 

From the start, it was clear the Flyers never intended for Johansen to play a game for the club. The Flyers promptly waived Johansen after the trade in an attempt to send him to the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms and potentially flip him before the deadline passed. But there were no takers, and days later, the league reversed Johansen’s AHL assignment after he failed his physical following the trade due to a nagging hip injury.

Johansen’s injury prevented him from being bought out by the Flyers in June, giving them a bit of a salary-cap headache. That will be solved after he clears waivers on Wednesday, and his termination will at least temporarily wipe his $4M cap charge from Philly’s books. However, the Flyers may still be hit with a cap charge if his expected grievance proves successful.

His contract termination will also have an immense cap benefit for the Predators, who had retained 50 percent of his initial $8M cap hit when they traded him to the Avalanche last summer. Their $4M cap penalty for the retention will be wiped out, just as the Capitals’ $3.9M cap charge for retaining money on Evgeny Kuznetsov was wiped out when the Hurricanes mutually terminated his contract a few weeks ago.

Johansen, 32, would have become an unrestricted free agent after next season upon completing the eight-year, $64M deal he signed with Nashville in 2017.

The 2010 fourth overall pick has struggled with inconsistency in the latter stages of his career. Nashville decided to get out of half of his deal after he was limited to 12 goals, 16 assists and 28 points with a -13 rating in 55 games in the 2022-2023 season. The Avs, who had been struggling to fill their second-line center vacancy after Nazem Kadri departed in free agency following their Stanley Cup win in 2022, took him off Nashville’s hands.

Unfortunately for the Avalanche and Johansen alike, his play faltered even more in Denver. His offensive production dropped to 13 goals and 23 points in 63 games, with his 0.37 points per game marking his worst output in over a decade. He averaged 13:39 per game, his lowest figure since his rookie season. While he was still effective in the faceoff dot, winning 53.1 percent of his draws, he wasn’t the answer in Colorado.

The now-revealed injury likely contributed to his overall struggles. Friedman adds that his delay in reporting it is the source of the abovementioned breach.

Johansen will become an unrestricted free agent Wednesday after clearing waivers. He’ll technically be eligible to sign with any team, but he won’t be able to until he can pass a physical.

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was the first to report Johansen had landed on waivers.