Blue Jackets' Johansen on being a healthy scratch: 'My fault'
Columbus Blue Jackets center Ryan Johansen is saying all the right things after being made a healthy scratch Thursday.
While Johansen's second on the team in scoring, with six goals and 16 assists in 31 games, he's being sent a message by head coach John Tortorella, who says the forward's play is about more than points.
Johansen's seen teammates Scott Hartnell and Fedor Tyutin be banished to the press box, so he's looking to learn, as they did.
"It's been brewing for a while," Johansen said, according to The Columbus Post Dispatch's Aaron Portzline. "Full responsibility. My fault. It's the way we want to point our team in the right direction, how we want to carry ourselves as an organization, as a hockey club.
"When you're not doing your job, you have to learn from it. Look at some of the veteran guys who have been taken out of the lineup as well ... it's trying to find ways to come together as a club and play as a group on the ice."
Tortorella wants more out of Johansen because he knows how exceptional a player the 23-year-old can be.
"It's not all measured on points because he's that good," the head coach said. "He'll get his points. But we want him to be great. We need him to be great. He has the ability to be great. Some guys don't. We're going to try to help him here and use today to reset him and getting him going in the right direction."
Johansen isn't taking the benching as a reason to pull the chute. He wants to stay in Columbus. And he isn't taking Tortorella's decision personally, saying his relationship with the head coach is a good one.
"I've said this all season: I want to be a Blue Jacket more than anything else in the world," Johansen said. "I love this group of guys. I love throwing on the Blue Jackets' jersey.
"I have to learn from it and be a pro about it and come to the rink and show mostly my teammates that I'm going to be ready to do my job and help the team on the ice. It's my job as a person and a player to take responsibility in that and do my job."