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Negotiations are such an odd thing, especially when they start to go public. There is plenty of rhetoric right now going on in the Ryan Johansen negotiations, but at its core the situation is really quite simple. Ryan Johansen has all sorts of potential and has shown he can be a 30 goal scorer. 30 goals. And really that's it.

Does Columbus anticipate he will be more than a 30 goal scorer in his career? Of course they do. Can anyone guarantee that happens? Of course not. And really that's okay, because the bottom line is the Columbus Blue Jackets can survive a while without Ryan in the lineup. Remember this is a team that made the playoffs last year after a terrible start and without getting any real contributions from Nathan Horton or Gaborik. Their two highest paid players.

So Columbus really isn't worried about their team should Johansen hold out. The damage here would probably be greater to the player. This is not a PK Subban situation. Ryan is important to the Blue Jackets success but not to the level PK is to the Canadiens. PK is by far the Habs best player not named Price. Johansen may be that player someday for Columbus…

Quite often the tone negotiation is set with the first offer. GMs understand agents are going to come in high, but when that number comes in close to $30 million over four years, as is being talked about throughout the league, well the tone has been set and the path to resolution won't be easy. There is no team in their right mind who would sign such a large contract that would end with the player as a UFA. The Blackhawks wouldn't have even signed such a contract for Jonathan Toews or Patrick Kane.

So let's talk about a bridge deal…Suppose the Blue Jackets were to go and sign a two year bridge deal with Ryan Johansen. It is important to remember that the second year of that bridge deal essentially becomes the third and fourth year because the team would have to qualify the player at that second year price. That is why you won't see many bridge deals that end over $4-5million.

Then you get into, “What about a one-year deal?” One-year deals require a lot of trust. Whenever you see a one-year deal signed it usually means the GM and the agent believe they can get more done but just ran out of time. Or the player specifically wants to go year by year…(see Lidstrom)

We saw this recently with Michael Frolik in Winnipeg. Listening to the sides talk about those negotiations you get a sense Frolik will be in Winnipeg for a long time, but with an arbitration bearing down on both sides a one-year deal bought them time to construct the more complicated long-term deal. It is a risk for both sides to be sure.

Based on how this is all going, I don't see Columbus wanting to do this again next summer.

We have seen both the GM Kekalainen and John Davidson now come out in the press with somewhat harsh words…but fair words in my opinion. Jarmo Kekalainen challenged Ryan Johansen to do it on the ice again and make them have to pay him. John Davidson, whose job remember is to push the Blue Jackets forward as an organization and the brand, is obviously more frustrated given the team success and momentum that is carrying over into this season. The team has for the first time in years sold over 10,000 season tickets and were it not for this particular situation there would be nothing but positive energy going into training camp. So when JD calls what is happening right now with the agent "Extortion" I really believe this is what's going on in JD’s head.… “We have a great thing going right now, it's been a lot of work to get a great thing going right now, and the agent knows it.”

But again, on the ice short term, the Blue Jackets will be okay either way. And for the Johansen camp, that is the biggest problem with their strategy right now.

The funny thing about the CBA is when players use it to their advantage to become a free agent, everyone says the player needs to look out for his best interest. Teams can't play that game quite the same way. Teams need to keep team chemistry solid and truthfully want to reward players for their successes, but right now the Blue Jackets are in a spot where they HAVE to use the CBA in any way they can to get this player into camp and get their season going.

Often when General Managers say things like, "Once camp starts we are going to move on and focus on what players we have at our disposal” I can see it as a sort of posturing, yet I get the feeling Jarmo is just being his normal matter-of-fact self in this case. The Jackets hold the strings right now. They are not a one player team. Their whole concept is built around that fact. They won't get off to a bad start… at least not as bad as they've gotten off to in the past.

In the end I do see a deal getting done soon. There really is not much doubt about it. However you hate to see this drag on. Just because this is the same agent who represented Kyle Turris doesn't mean that we will see this player in another uniform. This is a very different situation.

What do you all think?



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