Ryan Johansen officially grieves contract termination from Flyers

The NHLPA has officially filed a grievance on behalf of player Ryan Johansen.

The Philadelphia Flyers terminated Johansen's contract this offseason for 'material breach'. While it's not clear exactly what this means, there were rumors flying around social media that Johansen was essentially faking an injury so that the Flyers couldn't send him to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The other theory is that he faked an injury simply because he didn't want to play for Flyers head coach John Tortorella.

In any case, the NHLPA has filed a grievance on Johansen's behalf.

Now, if Johansen wins he won't get to resume his contract but he will be entitled to at least part of his $8 million annual contract.

My opinion though... Johansen will lose this appeal in a landslide. At the time of his trade to Philadelphia he was in great health. He managed 13 goals and 23 points in 63 games for the Colorado Avalanche and only announced his injury after he was placed on waivers by the Flyers. It's worth noting that the night before the trade he played 11 minutes of ice time and on the day of the trade he participated in the Avalanche's morning skate. Suddenly he's on waivers and he's not healthy... that's an awfully big coincidence. 

It also doesn't help his cause that he was seen dancing, partying and lifting his bride up on his shoulders at his wedding this past offseason.

Read below for our earlier reports on this developing story, published as events occurred.

UPDATE 3: Johansen's has made a statement through his agent Kurt Overhardt regarding today's news:

Now Flyers insider Anthony DiMarco is reporting that the issue that the Flyers have is regarding an 'alleged' hip injury that was reported by Johansen when the team tried to demote him to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms. DiMarco also implies that this entire situation has been stoked by Flyers management and Overhardt. It should be noted that Overhardt represents former Flyers prospect Cutter Gauthier, who famously parted ways with the team under poor circumstances earlier this year.

From DiMarco:

Again, needless to say we're in for a soap opera finale.

UPDATE 2: There's a rumor circulating on social media that the reason the Flyers are parting ways with Ryan Johansen is because Johansen lied to the team about his injury status.

In case you missed it, the Flyers announced today that Johansen was placed on waivers for the purposes of contract termination after a 'material breach' of his contract. NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported that the breach had something to do with Johansen's injury and that Johansen himself was grieving the contract termination.

Now on social media sites like Facebook, Reddit and Twitter (X lol) there are reports that Johansen was in good health this past weekend at his wedding, going so far so to toss his new bride up on his shoulders for the crowd. This is the same guy who reportedly was too injured to suit up for the Flyers this past season and whose contract could not be bought out due to his injury.

Pushing things back a bit further, there are reports

Needless to say, this has the potential to get ugly.

Stay tuned. We could be treated to some wonderful offseason drama to spice up the last bit of August.

UPDATE: Well... that didn't take long.

NHL insider Elliotte Friedman is reporting that the 'material breach' that has enabled them to walk away from Ryan Johansen's contract is the fact that the Colorado Avalanche did not (allegedly) properly disclose Johansen's injury when trading him to the Flyers in March.

From Friedman:

Additionally, Friedman reports that Johansen is expected to file an appeal:

Read below for our earlier report on this developing story, published as events occurred.

This just in, the Philadelphia Flyers have placed veteran forward Ryan Johansen on waivers for the purpose of contract termination.

The Flyers have not confirmed what it was that Johansen did to have his contract terminated, only calling it a 'material breach.' If Johansen clears waivers tomorrow then his $8 million annual contract will be torn up and the Flyers will be off the hook for his $4 million cap hit.

From the Flyers:

Craaaazy! 

The last time I can recall a player being cut loose for a 'material breach' was when the Los Angeles Kings terminated the contract of forward Mike Richards back in 2015. Richards was under RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) for allegedly smuggling prescription drugs across the Canadian/American border. He ended up appealing the Kings' contract termination and settled without disclosing terms to the public.

If you're wondering what constitutes a 'material breach', there's this description from the NHLPA:

 “fail, refuse, or neglect to obey the Club's rules governing training and conduct of Players, if such failure, refusal or neglect should constitute a material breach of this Standard Player Contract (SPC), or should the player, “fail, refuse or neglect to render his services hereunder or in any other manner materially breach this SPC.” However, it’s uncertain whether those reasons apply in Richards’ case.

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Again, no details from the team or from any NHL insiders just yet, but you know for certain that we'll get to the bottom of this controversy before the 2024-25 NHL season begins.