A couple of weeks ago, Ryan Johansen’s five year career with the Blue Jackets ended when he was traded to the Nashville Predators. But that brief time was never short of narratives. It was always full of questions about the team and about the player. And it was almost as if Johansen had to have all the answers, and never could.
“Will they send him back?”
His first NHL game was a 3-2 loss to the Nashville Predators.
Johansen initially reached major league ice during the 2011-12 season. And in the midst of a death spiral of that year’s start, (losses, Jeff Carter, James Wisniewski suspensions) the Jackets kept trotting out Johansen, game after game. Every time he suited up, the clock ticked away on using the first year of Johansen’s entry level contract.
Game after game, one would wonder, will they do it? Will they keep Johansen the magical 10-plus games and make him a bona fide NHL player? Would management decide to return the then 19-year-old to the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL where he could build on the previous season (he had scored 92 points and ranked seventh among league scorers) and save a year on his entry level contract?
There were questions about rushing the player. Something the Jackets had been notorious for in the past. There were questions about his readiness. There were questions about the impact of living through “that season.”
He stayed. His first goal with the Jackets was a game winner against the Red Wings on Oct 25, the team’s first win of the season. For a team that finished last in the NHL, Johansen quietly put up nine goals and 12 assists for 21 points in 67 games.
That year of 82 games was considered by many in Jackets’ land to be the bottom of the barrel, and, with Rick Nash requesting a trade, Johansen stood as the future. In the final game of the season, as the Jackets mercifully beat the NY Islanders 7-3, and then stood at center ice for a fan salute, those in the stands could only believe it had to get better.
But that would take time. And that delay would have nothing to do with happenings on-ice.
“Is he for real?”
Amidst the growing murmur of “is Ryan Johansen the savior for this team?”, the 2012-13 season was delayed months during the latest lockout. With no NHL games to play, Johansen, along with teammates Matt Calvert and Cam Atkinson, spent their time in the AHL. Grinding it out. Johansen went 17-16-33 in 40 regular season AHL games.
In February, the young centerman from Port Moody was recalled to the Jackets, played in 40 games, and put up a 5-7-12 stat line. Johansen played 13:54 in the final game of the season on April 27. It was a game that meant everything at the time. Win and you might be in – the Jackets could possibly get back to the post-season if they won and all the other chips fell in just the right way. The team earned a 3-1 victory over the Nashville Predators in a dramatic affair. The team came out to Drake’s “Started from the Bottom” and the Jackets’ showed their version of the “Inches” video for the first time.
But despite the team’s best efforts that night, they were left on the outside looking in as far as the playoffs were concerned. And Johansen, fresh off the highest point of Jacket expectations returned to the AHL and Springfield for the Calder Cup playoffs…and was scratched. In the deciding game of the series. Johansen would later call the moment “rock bottom.” But it was the entry point for fans to ask “what’s up with this guy?”
The door for questioning play and effort had been cracked open and it wasn’t going to close. Ever.
“The Breakout.”
Johansen said he didn’t ever want what happened in Springfield to happen again. And 2013-14 seemed to prove his intentions. The number one center position seemed solidified and he was ready to go to the next level.
The 6’3” Canadian had added an inch and ten pounds, bringing him to 223 lbs in the off-season, and he promptly threw up 33 goals and 30 assists as the Jackets returned to the playoffs for only the second time in franchise history.
The push for the post-season gave us Johansen moments like this:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9cKGV8yQ8A]It was the season that news outlets around the hockey world shared isolated audio of the Blue Jackets crowd and celebrated their excitement and the team’s accomplishment.
The future was so so bright…
“Does he want to be here?”
And then the bottom fell out.
Johansen had played like a beast. In a contract year. And the contract negotiations spilled over into the media and ate away at training camp. The ultimate truth for fans surely had to be “just get the best players on the ice so we can win,” but that focus eroded into “the player doesn’t care,” “earn it,” “have you really done anything yet?”
It was never as simple as answering any of those questions with a “yes” or a “no.” It’s easy to forget that what often reaches the press is shared intentionally. There’s negotiation in the boardroom, and there’s negotiation in the public eye. The two aren’t always the same. After all, the former brings a contract, the latter brings the weight of public opinion.
The deal was signed, and Johansen was on a plane headed east from Vancouver. But forces bigger than any one man had cemented “the contract dispute” as exhibit A anytime this particular player would struggle.
The Jackets were looking to repeat their post-season appearance, but the injury ninja seemed to have other plans. Within the first two months of the season key players including Brandon Dubinsky, Sergei Bobrovsky and Boone Jenner were out with everything from broken fingers, and surgically repaired groins to literal broken backs.
The 2014-15 season would collect a penance of over 500 man games from the Blue Jackets by the time all was said and done. But lost in the hari kari, that big number one center carried the time on ice burden, earned 26 goals and 45 assists while being only one of two players (David Savard was the other) who played in all 82 games.
That was good enough for second highest point total on the team, third highest goal total on the team, and highest assist total. Johansen’s point total was 16th best in the league, and made up 11% of all the points scored by the team that season as well as 11.5% of all the goals. (For comparison, Jamie Benn of the Dallas Stars, was number one in the league in points, and accounted for 12% of his team’s total that year.)
One of three players named to the All-Star team from Columbus, he won the affection of the league with his light-hearted play that almost over-shadowed his insanely brilliant skill.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Puy2T6PSGtw]Johansen had finally seemed to answer all the questions. He could play, he could be a personality in the game.
Just. Wait. Till. This. Team. Is. Healthy.
“Does Columbus need him?”
Coming of a 15-1-1 finish, many expected this to be Columbus’ time. Off-season acquisition Brandon Saad was added to a line with new captain Nick Foligno and Ryan Johansen and they tore up the pre-season schedule. Everyone was healthy, everyone was at training camp. No more worries.
The season started with a home game against the Rangers that was tied 1-1 until the final 2:36 of the game when the Rangers put up three goals in 1:17 and seemingly undid all the moorings of the Jackets team. They lost to the Rangers again the next night, and then to Buffalo. And then five more times. In the midst of the mire, Todd Richards was fired and John Tortorella came in as head coach.
The first time Tortorella was behind the Jackets bench, he sat Johansen for the final eight-ish minutes of the game. Then came news of a health scare with the center’s heart. There was more sitting, and a healthy scratch. There were rumors in the press that Johansen was on the trade block. There was word of tension between coach and player.
In what would be the final comments on the subject from both parties prior to the trade, both spoke convincingly about the focus being to make the team better. Both said there was no rift.
And while there may have been no battle in the locker room, Johansen was in a fight with reaching his potential. His 26 points (6-20-26) through 38 games were good enough for third on the team, but he wasn’t reversing the team’s fortunes. Disgruntled fans said things like “lazy,” “doesn’t care,” “isn’t good.”
And so, when it came time to get the asset the Jackets had coveted for years, a potential number one defenseman, they had to pay the price that demands. And they were willing to part with the asset that had the value that matched the price. The reward of the return was worth the risk of losing what the team currently had. And Ryan Johansen was no longer a Blue Jacket.
A new chapter…
You may have your reasons to be glad Johansen is gone. To prove otherwise isn’t the point of this piece.
For the first five years of Ryan Johansen’s NHL life, Columbus served as home, launching pad, and crucible of the up and down swings of the business of sport.
Columbus is where Johansen refined that now infamous shoot out move. It’s where 19 earned his first All-Star nod. It’s where he earned his first NHL points. It’s where he put up two 60+ point seasons.*
In return, Johansen helped bring more positive attention to a team and its fans that had fought for respect for so long. Johansen was the Blue Jackets “name” that people in the NHL knew.
He’s the guy who kissed game winning goalies.
He’s the guy who brought smiles to children at a local hospital. He’s the guy who (still) wears a bracelet to honor a child battling cancer who he met time after time, often when there was not a single camera around.
Ryan Johansen isn’t a Blue Jacket anymore. And that’s going to sting from time to time. He already has two goals and six points in four games with Nashville.
As John Tortorella said the day after the trade,
“Joey’s a good player. There is so much there in that kid…are we going to look at some nights when Joey lights it up in Nashville and say ‘man, is he playing well’? Yeah. But that’s part of it. You can’t lock yourself into that. We know (Johansen) is going to be a good player. But we’re really excited about the guy we got. It’s quality for quality here.”
Johansen’s time with the Jackets was full of “what if’s?” It looks like the answers, the “what will’s,” will come from a Johansen with a different logo on the front of his jersey.
At the end of the day, the choice is each of ours. Tear down your sports heroes because they “didn’t” – whatever that means – or allow for the appreciation of what they “did.”
Even if for a moment.
And then, move on.
*stick tap to Lori Schmidt for sharing this tweet
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