Back in 2023, the Colorado Avalanche acquired Ryan Johansen from the Nashville Predators for Alex Galchenyuk. The hope was that Johansen would fill the second center spot on the roster following the departure of Nazem Kadri, who left in free agency to sign with the Calgary Flames.
At the time, Kadri priced himself out for the Avs, which was a move that had Avs Faithful quite disappointed. The Avalanche had been searching for center depth for a while, experimenting with guys such as Casey Mittelstadt, J.T. Compher, Johansen, Alex Newhook, Brock Nelson, Charlie Coyle, and Ross Colton. Mittelstadt was traded after 81 games over the course of two seasons. Compher existed in free agency in 2023.
Newhook was traded to the Montreal Canadiens for a 2023 1st round pick (#31), 2023 2nd round pick (#37), and Gianni Fairbrother. Colorado used the 31st overall pick in 2023 on Mikhail Gulyayev, and the 37th overall ended up with the Tampa Bay Lightning, who took Ethan Gauthier.
The aformentioned Johansen has decided to hang up his skates on Thursday. Johansen had 13 goals and 10 assists in 63 games for the Avalanche in 2023-24. He was a -6 player who had four goals and two assists on the power play in that time. He also averaged just 13:39 of ice time per game with the Avalanche in his only season there. Overall, the production he put forward for the Avalanche was just not enough for him to stick around.
Johansen had an up and down career. While Avalanche fans would remember his short stint in Colorado, he also played the previous eight seasons (before the trade) in Nashville with the Predators. He had 110 goals and 252 assists in 533 games with the Predators.
Johansen was drafted by the Columbus Blue Jackets fourth overall in the 2010 NHL Draft, where he played in 309 games, recording 79 goals and 114 assists.
When the Avalanche traded Johansen to the Philadelphia Flyers for Sean Walker, I wrote how the trade to acquire Johansen was a wash, since neither he or Galchenyuk did anything of note with their new teams. It was a trade that fans would like to have never seen happen. But, what’s done is done, and in the end, Johansen will just want some peace in retirement after a messy end to a long career.