Flyers Terminate Ryan Johansen’s Contract

After being traded to Philadelphia from Colorado in the Sean Walker deal back in March, 32-year-old Ryan Johansen is now having his contract terminated for a material breach. The whole problem revolves around Johansen’s injury status. Johansen has never played a game for the Flyers nor any of their affiliates as he was placed on injured reserve, IR, almost immediately after being traded here.

Johansen was drafted fourth overall in 2010 by Columbus and looked to be their burgeoning center star until he was traded to Nashville for Seth Jones presumably in large part due to tensions between him and coach at the time John Tortorella. Johansen enjoyed three and a half successful. seasons in Nashville before being traded Colorado last summer with 50% of his salary retained before being traded to Philadelphia this past March.

This move will open up some cap space by saving $4 million due to Nashville paying the other half. Like I mentioned above, Johansen never played a game for the Flyers or the Phantoms and has been on IR with some sort of injury. Nothing has been shared at all about the injury, just that there is one. The wording of the statement the Flyers put out, saying it was a material breach, has led some to believe that a possible fake injury could be the reasoning for the contract termination, though those on the side of the Flyers have never denied an injury publicly. That was later confirmed by Elliotte Friedman.

More branches were thrown on the fire after Elliotte Friedman tweeted out that Johansen is expected to file a grievance and see some legal battle between Johansen and the Flyers. Even if Johansen wins his grievance, there is a possibility that Johansen’s cap hit is still off the books for the Flyers.

A little more information: Johansen is expected to grieve this termination; Flyers aren’t commenting, but have made it clear they will present their case if asked to do.

So, while the contract may be terminated tomorrow, there is going to be a bit of a process here https://t.co/QI298o3DUX

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) August 20, 2024

So in theory: even if the Flyers lose the grievance, they’d only have to pay him out but they would (likely) not be stuck with his 8 million dollar cap on the books this year

A lot of people bringing up Mike Richards buyout… very interesting but like who really knows https://t.co/MyCCfFuZJP

— Adam Wylde (@AdamWylde) August 20, 2024

Adam Wylde, with the Steve Dangle Podcast, mentioned that the Flyers, even if they lose the grievance, may just have to pay him out but his cap hit doesn’t return. This is an ongoing situation, but. there is hope this won’t negatively affect the Flyers in terms of cap space. Johansen was one of the biggest question marks coming into the season due to him not playing at all for the Flyers, his relationship with Torts (which it’s been said by Brière that he doesn’t know if Torts and Johansen have had any contact since the trade), and finally him not wanting to report to the AHL. The question of whether or not Johansen would be on IR, LTIR, or even where he would play had no answer until today.

By Noah Caplan (@Phlyers24)
Photo creds: ESPN