The last few Columbus Blue Jackets games have seen their young center, Ryan Johansen, have his ice time be dwindled down. This could all be speculation, but it begs the question; Is his time in Columbus over?
Johansen is known for his silky style of skating, good stick skills, and lackadaisical attempts at helping out defensively. The latter doesn’t seem to be going over very well with head coach John Tortorella as Johansen didn’t get a single shift in the final 23 minutes of the Jackets last game. Now, this isn’t the first time this has happened since Tortorella has taken over, as he was also benched for the third period earlier this season against the Minnesota Wild, which so happened to be Tortorella’s first game in charge of Columbus.
The reason that was brought to attention for the first benching, against Minnesota, was that Johansen might not have been in good enough shape to live up to the coach’s standards. This has been a long time issue with Johansen. But since then, he has looked much quicker on the ice, and much more active in many facets of the game, as well as looking more disciplined. With the benching the other night though, one begins to wonder how much longer this will go on and if one or the other will break, seeing a possible departure of the young center.
Coach Tortorella isn’t one to be afraid of sending players packing that he deems expendable, especially ones that don’t live up to his standards of fitness and work ethic. Despite no word from the Blue Jackets organization over the growing rumors of a possible trade this season, the fans and forums are abuzz with the possibilities. There are a number opinions of what should be done, and many other situations going on at the club alike. It remains to be seen if general manager Jarmo Kekalainen will be willing to ship out the former first-rounder. It is doubtful that any trade for Johansen will take place during this season, unless potential takers are willing to give up quite a bit for the young man. And, if he does go, it’s an easy assumption to make that many teams would be willing to give up quite a bit of their goods to get there hands on him.
Johansen, 23, was the fourth overall draft pick by the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2010. He has accumulated 73 goals and 94 assists, for 167 points, in 271 games for Columbus.
