It's finally over. Two occasionally warring sides have ended their long, frosty contract negotiations by striking an 11th-hour deal:
#CBJ have agreed to terms with C Ryan Johansen on a 3-year contract. Official announcement to come.
— NHL Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) October 6, 2014
TSN's Bob McKenzie has the contract details:
AAV on Johansen extension with CBJ is $4M.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) October 6, 2014
Johansen's new contract will take the 22-year-old first-line center to within one season of unrestricted free agency. When his contract expires he'll have arbitration rights, which should preclude a long, occasionally bitter standoff like the one that characterized the Blue Jackets' offseason.
He'll also be enormously expensive to qualify:
Johansen terms: $3M in 2014-15, $3M in 2015-16 and $6M in 2016-17.
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) October 6, 2014
So in order to retain Johansen's RFA rights in the summer of 2017, the Blue Jackets will have to tender him a qualifying offer, which will be the equivalent of a one-year, $6-million contract. That's a generous enough number that Johansen might reasonably accept it, with an eye on earning himself a lucrative long-term deal as an unrestricted free agent the next summer.
The 6-foot-3, near-230 pound center scored 30 goals and totaled 60 points during the 2013-14 campaign. Johansen's sudden and percentage-driven star turn in the final year of his entry-level deal made his value difficult to peg, which likely contributed to the long, tense negotiations between the Blue Jackets and their best skater.