Analyst Urges Maple Leafs to Sign Former $64 Million Forward

NHL analyst Tyler Ball of The Hockey Patrol believes the Toronto Maple Leafs should sign Ryan Johansen.

Johansen was supposed to enter the final year of his eight-year $64 million deal with the Philadelphia Flyers, but the centerman had his contract terminated due to a material breach of his contract.

With Johansen having his contract terminated, he will become a free agent and Ball believes the Maple Leafs should show interest in him.

“If the Toronto Maple Leafs can bring in Ryan Johansen on a player tryout or cheap contract he could be a great addition. At his peak with the Nashville Predators, Ryan Johansen was a 50 to 60-point player playing second-line minutes. However, injuries over the last two seasons have derailed his production,” Ball wrote.

“He could be one of the best remaining free agents on the market. If the Toronto Maple Leafs still feel the need to upgrade their third-line center spot a call could be made to his agent in short order,” Ball added.

As Ball says, when Johansen is at his peak, he is a top-six forward in the NHL. However, he is dealing with an injury, so it’s uncertain how long Johansen will be out of the lineup.

Last season with the Colorado Avalanche, Johansen skated in 63 games recording 13 goals and 10 assists for 23 points.

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Johansen to File Grievance Over Contract Termination

Following the Flyers putting Johansen on waivers, his agent Kurt Overhardt released a statement saying he will be challenging the decision.

“Ryan Johansen has a severe hockey injury that requires extensive surgery which has been scheduled. Since being traded to the Philadelphia Flyers, Ryan has worked in good faith with the Club, its medical staff, and authorized third party physicians,” Overhardt said in a statement. “The Flyers’ attempt to terminate Ryan’s contract is disappointing. We have been in contact with the NHLPA and will defend Ryan and protect his rights.”

Johansen was acquired by the Flyers at the 2024 NHL trade deadline, but after Philadelphia tried to send him down, it was revealed he had a hip injury. The injury wouldn’t allow Philadelphia to send him down, and Flyers GM Daniel Briere wouldn’t provide much of an update on Johansen back in June.

“If he’s healthy he would be in [training] camp and have the chance to show us what he can do,” Briere said. “If he’s not and he needs surgery, then he’ll have to go through that.”

Johansen has skated in 905 NHL games recording 202 goals and 376 assists for 578 points.

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Maple Leafs Not Done With Moves

NHL training camps are set to open in September, and although most of the offseason has been completed, Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving isn’t ruling out the team making more moves before the start of the season.

“To me, we’ve still got five weeks or so till camp. And, you know, we’re not set yet. We continue to look at ways to make our team better,” Treliving said on OverDrive on TSN 1050. “I said at the end of the year we’re going to look at everything.  Sometimes people fall in love with ‘ ‘let’s make a big change just to make a big change’. At the end of the day, you can go out and make big changes. If they’re not making your team better, to me it doesn’t make any sense to just make a change just to stand up and say ‘look at it, we made this big change.'”

Toronto has just over $1.2 million in cap space, according to PuckPedia, so the Maple Leafs have money to make a move.

Toronto will open its 2024-25 NHL season on Oct. 9 against the Montreal Canadiens.

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