RYAN JOHANSEN - Center - 27 - $8.00MM Cap Hit - UFA in 2025-2026
LAST UPDATED 8/20/19
Don't get me wrong here. RyJo is a good player, but I think he's miscast in Nashville. Despite what his 71 point season as a 22 year old in Columbus may have suggested, Ryan Johansen is not a true first line center. He's undoubtedly skilled and he can score 55-65 points consistently, but he's not the dominant offensive force he's paid to be. RyJo is a big center with great playmaking abilities. He doesn't have a great shot but he can drive play as a setup man and is an asset on the power play, facilitating scoring chances for his teammates. That being said, RyJo isn't strong enough on the puck or fast enough to create time and space with the puck like the game's elite can, and as a result he's unable to keep offensive pace with the 70-80 point, true 1C's of the NHL. Now, some of that gap in production is made up by Johansen's defensive value, as he's a very strong penalty killer and is a very underrated defensive center, but it's not enough to fully call him a true franchise center. With the addition of Matt Duchene I think that RyJo's job got a bit easier and that may allow him to develop a better scoring rythm, but you also have to question why the Duchene signing was even necessary when, as David Poile said in the press conference for Johansen's $64MM extension, said that he was signing Johansen to lock up the team's "true first line center." I don't think that Johansen is a negative value asset and I still think he can be the first line center the Predators were looking for when they traded Seth Jones, but as of right now he's more of a high-end 2C or spot 1C than a true do-it-all PPG 1C.
Don't get me wrong here. RyJo is a good player, but I think he's miscast in Nashville. Despite what his 71 point season as a 22 year old in Columbus may have suggested, Ryan Johansen is not a true first line center. He's undoubtedly skilled and he can score 55-65 points consistently, but he's not the dominant offensive force he's paid to be. RyJo is a big center with great playmaking abilities. He doesn't have a great shot but he can drive play as a setup man and is an asset on the power play, facilitating scoring chances for his teammates. That being said, RyJo isn't strong enough on the puck or fast enough to create time and space with the puck like the game's elite can, and as a result he's unable to keep offensive pace with the 70-80 point, true 1C's of the NHL. Now, some of that gap in production is made up by Johansen's defensive value, as he's a very strong penalty killer and is a very underrated defensive center, but it's not enough to fully call him a true franchise center. With the addition of Matt Duchene I think that RyJo's job got a bit easier and that may allow him to develop a better scoring rythm, but you also have to question why the Duchene signing was even necessary when, as David Poile said in the press conference for Johansen's $64MM extension, said that he was signing Johansen to lock up the team's "true first line center." I don't think that Johansen is a negative value asset and I still think he can be the first line center the Predators were looking for when they traded Seth Jones, but as of right now he's more of a high-end 2C or spot 1C than a true do-it-all PPG 1C.
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