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Darren Dreger broke a story yesterday: The Flyers emerged victorious in an arbitrator’s ruling on Ryan Johansen contract termination last year. The report has since been independently confirmed. Consequently, the Flyers do not owe Johansen any money and the team incurs no salary cap penalty.
The Flyers acquired Johansen on March 6, 2024, as part of the Sean Walker trade with the Colorado Avalanche. The Flyers did not want Johansen himself, as the former Columbus and Nashville player was in steep decline. Rather, Johansen’s inclusion was strictly a salary dump from Colorado. In exchange, the Flyers secured a 2025 first-round Draft pick. Philadelphia subsequently dealt the pick to move up in the round and select Jack Nesbitt.
The Flyers waived Johansen immediately upon his acquisition, with the intention of assigning him to the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Johansen, who had dressed in 63 games for the Avalanche in 2023-24, refused to report to Allentown. The player claimed he had a career-threatening hip condition that precluded him from playing hockey again. Under the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the National Hockey League and the NHL Players’ Association, teams are not permitted to demote an injured player to the minor league farm team.
The dispute continued over the summer of 2024. The player and his agent, Kurt Overhardt, claimed Johansen could not pass a physical ahead of training camp. The Flyers maintained that, while Johansen had an apparent hip issue, he’d played through it for the duration of the 2023-24 season until the trade to Philadelphia.
Meanwhile, video surfaced of Johansen dancing and moving around (apparently) just fine at his recent wedding celebration aboard a party bus. He and his bride also posed for wedding photos in which Johansen lifted his wife in the air among other circumstantial indications that the professional athlete was physically well enough to at least attempt to compete at training camp.
Citing a material breach of contract, the Flyers involuntarily terminated the remainder of Johansen’s contract. In turn, Johansen and Overhardt filed a grievance. Under NHL contracting rules, such disputes go to binding arbitration. The Flyers did not incur any salary cap implications or payment obligations to Johansen this past season. The arbitrator’s ruling in their favor frees both the Flyers and Nashville Predators from any monies claimed by the Johansen camp. Consequently, there is no salary cap recapture penalty or any other ongoing obligation. Nashville would have been on the hook for $4 million of the player’s $8 million annual salary.
All Johansen had to do to get paid in full in a year ago: report to Lehigh Valley and/or report to 2024 training camp. If he was, in fact, dealing with a career-threatening hip issue, he’d have failed his pre-camp physical. The Flyers would then have either had to place him on long-term injured reserve or the team would have had to otherwise budget in his 2024-25 salary and cap hit.
The Flyers and Overhardt have had a difficult relationship over the years. They’ve been embroiled in disputes over Overhardt’s alleged unethical (but not forbidden) double-dealing with Philadelphia and the Tampa Bay Lightning when Matt Carle was a free agent in 20212. Years later, some blamed the fallout between the Flyers and 2022 first-round pick Cutter Gauthier on Overhardt’s influence as his agent. The Johansen dispute marked the third time the organization has been at loggerheads with the agent and/or one of his clients.
As with Ritch Winter and other agents with a “difficult” reputation, the Flyers still deal with Overhardt as necessary. Current Phantoms/Flyers defenseman Helge Grans is represented by Overhardt. The two sides agreed to a two-year contract extension on May 30. Overhardt also represents Minnesota Wild defenseman Zeev Bium, among his 35 clients who are active players. With that many clients, it’s not practical to “boycott” a certain agent. Meanwhile, Flyers management insists that Overhardt had nothing to do with the organization’s decision to bypass Buium in the 2024 NHL Draft. The team traded down a spot and selected Jett Luchanko.
Flyers Daily: Guest Kevin Kurz
Kevin Kurz from the Athletic joined Jason Myrtetus for the August 13 edition of Flyers Daily. Topic include Kevin’s take on the offseason, the Athletic’s Flyers fan survey on the organization’s direction and more. The episode also features an update on Tyson Foerster’s elbow infection, a discussion of Alex Bump’s potential, the strategy from the next phase of the rebuild (designed to be the adding talent phase) and more.
Cancer Warriors Update
Frankie James from Chirping Pucks Media reports that the Cancer Warriors benefit for Jason Myrtetus and his family raised $1,116 toward helping Jason defray out-of-pocket costs associated with his battle against colon cancer. Huge thanks go out to all of the local players who participated in the Cancer Warriors tourney at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees. Personal thanks also go to Frankie for organizing the event and making it a reality.
Great news for the Flyers