Flyers to terminate Ryan Johansen's contract for "material breach"

Ryan Johansen has yet to put on a Flyers' uniform and now he may not ever do so. Acquired from the Avalanche in the Sean Walker deal, Johansen would not step on the ice again. A hip injury was revealed and things have been in limbo ever since.

The Flyers seemingly had no idea of any previous injury Johansen was dealing with. He appeared in 63 games for Colorado, including the game before the trade to Philadelphia. He skated just under 11 minutes, not far from his usual ice times. He fluctuated between nine and 15 minutes throughout the season. And he was expected to play in their next game as well.

The Flyers waived him and looked into moving him, telling teams they were willing to retain his salary to make it happen. With no takers, he was sent to the AHL to play with the Phantoms. He could've possibly been called up if the team needed him. That is when he revealed the injury. By doing so, the Flyers could not do anything. As far as they knew, he was healthy when he was traded. Danny Briere later spoke and said they did not expect Johansen to ever play and that the player didn't think he could play.

Not much was heard of until Tuesday afternoon.

Flyers terminating Ryan Johansen's contract

The Flyers decided to terminate Johansen's contract, calling it a "material breach" and declined to offer further comment. Johansen had one more year remaining on his contract with the Flyers picking up 4M and the Predators having the same hit from a previous deal. A material breach is a broad topic in the NHL when it comes to using that as a way to terminate a deal. The Arizona Coyotes used that with Alex Galchenyuk when he was in legal trouble. The Los Angeles Kings used it with Mike Richards. Those are just two examples of recent usage.

For those two, it was much more serious offenses. That may not be the case with Johansen. Part of the definition of a material breach involves a player's refusal to render his services. So if Johansen refused to play for the Flyers, that would fall under the breach. Elliotte Friedman later confirmed that the issue at hand is indeed the injury.

Johansen is expected to grieve the termination, however. He has 60 days to file. So while the Flyers are likely to officially terminate his contract tomorrow, that won't be the end of it. They will have to prove that Johansen did breach his contract with whatever evidence they have. And Johansen will have to do the same to show that he did not.

It's never boring in Philadelphia, that's for sure.