The Philadelphia Flyers placed forward Ryan Johansen on unconditional waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract.
Ryan Johansen's time with the Philadelphia Flyers is coming to an end.
The Flyers announced they placed the forward on unconditional waivers on Tuesday for the purpose of terminating his contract. The rest of the NHL has a chance to claim him, but otherwise, he'll become a UFA on Wednesday at noon ET.
Philadelphia cited a material breach as the reason for terminating his contract, but added it will have no further comment at this time.
Philadelphia acquired 32-year-old Johansen just before the 2024 NHL trade deadline in the trade that sent Sean Walker to the Colorado Avalanche. Johansen played all 63 games for the Avalanche up to that point but then did not play after joining the Flyers.
"He claimed to be injured when we traded for him, so we had him see the doctors," Flyers GM Daniel Briere told Philly Hockey Now in March. "They found an injury, so now he's going to be rehabbing."
Briere added at the time that it was fair to say the Flyers were caught off guard by the injury. The team initially placed him on waivers and tried to assign him to the AHL, but they could not send an injured player to the minors. That said, the Flyers did not associate this situation with the material breach in their announcement.
Johansen recorded 13 goals and 23 points with the Avalanche last season following parts of eight seasons with the Nashville Predators. When Nashville traded him to Colorado, the team retained 50 percent of his $8-million cap hit, which left a $4-million cap hit to cover through the 2024-25 season.
The fourth-overall pick in the 2010 NHL draft has played 905 games split between the Columbus Blue Jackets, Predators and Avalanche. During that time, he's logged 202 goals, 376 assists, 578 points and an average ice time of 17:10. He also has 67 games of playoff experience, where he's recorded 19 goals and 35 assists for 54 points.
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