Contract talks between the Columbus Blue Jackets and their franchise forward have finally begun.
After a few weeks of quiet when the Blue Jackets season concluded, General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen and Ryan Johansen's camp have started working on the framework of a contract extension.
Johansen and his agent made the first move in negotiations, per Blue Jackets beat writer Aaron Portzline.
Told contract talks bw pending RFA Ryan Johansen and #CBJ are underway. Johansen/agent made preliminary proposal to GM Jarmo Kekalainen.
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) June 4, 2014The 21-year-old forward is coming off a 33-goal campaign where he tallied 63 points in 82 games, so an extension won't come overly cheap. He's well on his way to becoming a star in this league, and I'm sure his camp will try and hammer that home in contract negotiations.
Johansen doesn't have much leverage so barring contract talks going terribly wrong - which I'd say is highly unlikely - he'll be in the lineup come October.
The interest in getting an extension done quickly is mutual, so it's more or less agreeing on terms both sides are happy with.
If they agree on a short-term extension, Columbus will save some coin now, but Johansen will need a new contract in the near future and will probably be in line for a huge pay day. If a long-term contract is signed, Johansen will get a nice chunk of cash but at a number Kekalainen is comfortable with so he can save some cap space down the road.
Personally I'd rather get Johansen locked up long-term now, but there's arguments to be made about the benefits for both sides with either contract.
It'll be interesting to see the terms of an extension when it gets ironed out.
**
Would you rather sign Johansen to a short-term prove it contract, or give him more term and bank on saving cap space down the road if he pans out?
**
The Blue Jackets have signed Swedish forward Simon Hjalmarsson, who was one of the highest scoring players in Sweden last season, according to Aaron Portzline.
I'll hopefully have more on this in the coming days.
**
Jackets posts
Devils posts
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Email: NHLToddCordell@Gmail.com