Ryan Johansen
If anyone was on the fence, I bet they now feel differently about Johansen and his contract. He has looked near invisible on the ice for most of last year through now, and most everyone can agree that he has one of the worst active deals in the league.
Finding a trade partner for him would be highly preferable, but that is unlikely to happen.
Contracts of $8M-plus per year are seldom traded, and knowing how bad Johansen’s is, I cannot imagine any other team touching it.
That is unless Poile finds a way to make the Seattle Kraken select him in this offseason’s expansion draft, which actually has a good chance of happening. But Johansen’s name is not likely to generate much interest on the trade market.
Johansen is slated to return to the Predators starting lineup against the Detroit Red Wings to try to get his season on track.