Ryan Johansen was placed on unconditional waivers this morning by the Philadelphia Flyers for the purposes of terminating his contract. Since the initial reporting more news has come out regarding the 32-year-old’s contract situation with the Flyers. Anthony DiMarco of Daily Faceoff tweeted that he’s hearing that Philadelphia feels that they have grounds to terminate the deal based on the alleged hip injury that Johansen reported after he cleared waivers in March and was sent to the AHL.
Johansen initially flew in to join Lehigh Valley shortly after the trade to the Flyers from the Colorado Avalanche in March and met with Phantoms doctors (as per Kevin Kurz of The Athletic). Not much is known about what was discussed at that time, but Johansen never dressed after that initial meeting. The injury caught Philadelphia off guard because Johansen had played in all of Colorado’s games leading up to the trade and was part of the Avalanche’s morning skate the day of the trade to Philadelphia.
Johansen’s agent Kurt Overhardt added to the intrigue by tweeting that Johansen has a severe hockey injury that will require surgery and the procedure is already scheduled for a future date. He also added that he was disappointed in Philadelphia’s decision and would work with the NHLPA to defend Johansen.
The Flyers reportedly intend to use the cap space if Johansen’s money comes off the books (as per DiMarco) but would need to keep that money available should Johansen’s grievance prove successful.
Overhardt might be the #2 enemy of Flyers fans after Chuck Fletcher right now.
Or he didn’t want to play in the AHL and lied
Well yeah, RyJo is not gonna let go of $8M that easy!
If I was the NHLPA’s counsel, I’d be wondering out loud why they waited until NOW to waive him.
in order
1. due diligence
2. found out he has surgery scheduled on his own vs through the team that owns his rights and is paying him.