The Avalanche have made a move to add to their forward group as they’ve acquired center Ryan Johansen from the Predators in exchange for the rights to pending free agent forward Alex Galchenyuk. As part of the deal, Nashville will be retaining 50% of Johansen’s contract, one that carries an $8MM cap charge through 2024-25, meaning Colorado will add Johansen on their books at a $4MM price tag. Incoming Predators GM Barry Trotz released the following statement about Johansen’s departure:
“On behalf of the Predators organization, we want to thank Ryan for his contributions to our team and community over the last seven-plus years. He played a large role in our franchise’s accomplishments since arriving in January 2016, helping lead us to the 2017 Stanley Cup Final, the 2018 Presidents’ Trophy, back-to-back Central Division titles in 2018 and 2019 and several postseason appearances. Ryan also dedicated a considerable amount of time to the Predators Foundation and helped us grow the game in Middle Tennessee, including his work with youth hockey in our community. We wish Ryan all the best in Colorado.”
Johansen has spent the last eight seasons with the Predators after they moved Seth Jones to acquire him back in 2016. The hope at the time was that they were moving a top young defenseman for a top young center, one that could emerge as their top option down the middle. Things got off to a reasonable start on that front as he had 95 points in his first 124 games with the Preds, helping him earn his eight-year, $64MM contract. However, after that, his output largely cooled off as he managed just 60 points once in the following four years, never surpassing the 15-goal mark in the process.
In 2021-22, it looked like Johansen had turned a corner as he notched a career-high 26 goals while recording 63 points. Those numbers weren’t exactly worth an $8MM price tag but for the time being, he and Matt Duchene were giving Nashville at least decent production up the middle. Unfortunately, that didn’t carry over to this past season as the 30-year-old managed just 28 points in 55 games before undergoing emergency leg surgery in February, ending his campaign prematurely.
For Colorado, this is a relatively low-risk gamble that Johansen can rediscover his offensive touch. They never truly replaced Nazem Kadri who left in free agency last summer, opting instead to largely go with internal options including J.T. Compher. Compher had a career year in 2022-23, picking up a career-high 52 points but he’s set to become an unrestricted free agent next month and will likely land a contract that’s worth more than what the Avs will be covering on Johansen’s deal. At $4MM, as long as Johansen can put up around 40 points while continuing to be above-average at the faceoff dot, he’ll provide ample value for Colorado and with the firepower they have, an uptick in production is certainly a possibility.
With this swap, the Avalanche have around $8.5MM in cap room, per CapFriendly with at least six players to sign with that money. However, that doesn’t account for Gabriel Landeskog’s injury that will cause him to miss the entire 2023-24 campaign so GM Chris MacFarland has roughly $15.5MM still at his disposal over the coming weeks.
As for Nashville, this is an underwhelming return, to put it lightly, for someone that just a few years ago was one of the focal points of their attack. But the Predators are clearly embarking on at least a partial rebuild after jettisoning several veterans at the trade deadline and in a flat salary cap environment, getting full value for Johansen would have been next to impossible. The move now gives them a little over $19.5MM in cap room to work with, per CapFriendly, so if they want to be active in free agency to try to make it a quick retool, they’ll have the flexibility to do so. Alternatively, if they want to take on a bad contract or two to add more assets, that will also be a viable option for them.
Notably, this swap now encumbers two of Nashville’s three allowable retention slots through the 2024-25 campaign as one is also being used on Mattias Ekholm. These retentions plus the buyout to Kyle Turris give the Preds $6.25MM in dead cap for the upcoming season.
Galchenyuk’s inclusion in this trade is almost certainly just for contract-matching purposes. Even though he’s a pending free agent, he still counts as under contract until July 1st as do all pending free agents. For the time being, Nashville has 47 contracts on their books while Colorado sits at 45 so both franchises have some wiggle room in the coming weeks on that front.
Galchenyuk played in just 11 games with the Avs this past season, being held off the scoresheet in the process. The 2012 third-overall pick spend most of the year with AHL Colorado and was productive with them, picking up 42 points in as many games. He’ll almost certainly be heading for another two-way contract next season if he opts to stay in North America but after clearing waivers twice in the last two seasons, it’s possible that the 29-year-old looks to try his hand at playing overseas.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Hmm now where is that money they saved going to go?
Debrincat??
@jdgoat – If you were DeBrincat, would you rather stay in OTT, or possibly land with the Avs? Like always, he shouldn’t wait around until, say, late August, only to find all the chairs have been taken by the ever-present Cap Cannibals.
I think jdgoat is hinting at a DeBrincat move to the Predators. They are rumored to be on his list as well
@Grocery stick – Again, another possible destination not named OTT. And, it’s away from a Canadian market (possibly), continuing the disturbing trend.
Trotz taking a bulldozer to Poile’s previous work. Now let’s see how BT rebuilds this thing.
I’m actually curious to see if they try and sign Galchenyuk to a 2-way deal he’s from milwaukee so you can kinda speculate that maybe they wanna sign him for depth, only time will tell
Well, if all those young forwards in Milwaukee are in Nashville next season, they will need to sign some players for the Admirals to fill out their lineup.
BRING OUT YOUR BUSTS
BRING OUT YOUR BUSTS
Interesting gamble by Avs; RyJo has looked disinterested ever since signing his big deal, but now with a Cup contender & distinct role to play… I tend to like most Avs moves, but HT to Trotz for getting out from another bad Poile anchor!
So would this open a top line center spot for young Novak kid….and possibly Trotz bring in a guy like Domi…
I would hope the Preds are aiming higher than Domi. Trotz wants a true #1 center to build the team around, thus why he’s moving salary out.
I like this move for both teams. Johansen’s decent – miscast as a first-line player but solid defensively when he wants to be. I’m a little surprised Nashville had to retain quite so much salary, but that’s what happens in a flat cap world. Trotz knows this team has to be demolished, and will need to the pay the price for not doing it 2-3 years ago.
Some day owners will figure out how to keep GMs from prioritizing the short term without a sufficient likelihood of success. Any sports fan can see that teams stuck in the mushy middle like the Predators or the Canucks can never escape. Bless Trotz for recognizing that they had to shuffle a losing deck. And credit finally to the Predators ownership committee for finally giving Poile a viking funeral and moving on.
Preds we’re going to buy him out if they couldn’t move him. This is a W!
Is -2.6milion x 4 better or worse than -4mil x 2?
Worse if you think you in a rebuild for 2 years but competitive again by year four. Dead cap matters a lot less in the early part of the rebuild.
Smart move with Nashville retaining 50%.
Surprised none of this retained cap money wasn’t funneled thru Arizona. Hehe. :)