Late Friday night Aaron Portzline of The Athletic broke the news that Jack Johnson had requested a trade.
Johnson would not comment on the situation but Portzline cites a “dramatically diminished role” and a “desire to better himself for free agency” as reasons why this request is happening.
Johnson is in the final year of his seven year $30.5 million deal he signed back in 2011-12 when he was with the L.A. Kings. He makes $5M in salary this season, and carries a $4.357M cap hit, per
Cap Friendly.
Johnson’s role has been significantly reduced this season. His minutes are down, averaging 19:24, a far cry from the 23:38 he has averaged in his time in Columbus. He’s been dropped down to the third pair and is no longer playing with his usual partner David Savard. He’s been passed on the depth chart by Seth Jones, Zach Werenski and more recently Markus Nutivaara, who has taken that spot on the second pair alongside Savard.
Johnson’s had a well-publicized bankruptcy, and needs this next contract to help set him up financially. Portzline reported that of $5M Johnson makes this season, he’s only been allowed to keep $246,000 of it, per the terms of his settlement with creditors.
This is a tough situation for all; Johnson has been a long standing member of the Blue Jackets and was a warrior for this team during some dark times. He has been a fan favourite, as many love the physical presence he brings each and every night. He’s also been a beast in the playoffs; his nine points in 11 playoff games in the Union Blue are the most by any player in the franchise.
All that stuff is great but we have to look at reality here, and the reality is Johnson hasn’t been a very effective player in his career.
This is a player whose perception exceeds his on-ice value.
No matter where you look Johnson has not been up to snuff this season. He had a rejuvenated season last year but that season looks like a blip. He’s been a polarizing player for years as his advanced numbers haven’t lined up with the eye test. Last year everyone was quiet on that front as Johnson played well and had a break-even season, plus the Blue Jackets were playing well. Again that season looks like anomaly as Johnson is back to his normal self this year.
As far the Blue Jackets are concerned this could actually be a blessing in disguise. J.D. Burke summed it up nicely.
Portzline mentioned that the Jackets were close to signing Johnson to an extension this summer, with the notion that Ryan Murray was going to be dealt. When Murray wasn’t dealt, the extension never got done. From an asset management standpoint trading Johnson made sense regardless of this trade request. His role is dwindled and with Murray still in the fold there is no chance the Blue Jackets are going to re-sign him. Gabriel Carlsson hasn’t played well in the NHL to date but he’s someone the organization remains very high on. The Jackets also have Vladislav Gavrikov, who they almost signed to an entry-level contract this off-season, playing in the KHL. He’s someone people are high on as well; he looks to have a shot at making Russia’s Olympic roster.
This allows the Jackets an opportunity to recoup some assets for a player who is certainly going to test free agency, and as Burke mentions, this isn’t going to significantly hurt the team. As far as what the Jackets could get for Johnson, looking at some recent trades for defencemen, Jarmo Kekalinen and the front office should be able to get at worst a decent draft pick. Trevor van Riemsdyk went for a second, David Schlemko went for a fifth, Travis Hamonic went for a first and two seconds, and Marc Methot went for a prospect and a second. We can argue about how these players stack up to Johnson, many would argue that Johnson is the worst of that bunch, but these players all likely have similar perceived value to Johnson. All it takes is one GM whose sees things differently and a deal like this could get done.
The team that everyone brought up when this report came out was the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers have made it clear they are looking for defencemen and have shown they don’t put much stock in analytics. The Oilers also have what the Jackets want, a centre, in Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. There were rumblings in November
that these teams might be taking about a trade and perhaps those talks get revisited.
With the Jackets on their bye week, the front office will be busy figuring this all out.
You can follow me on Twitter
@PaulBerthelot 
Columbus Blue Jackets Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»