Nashville Predators: Five Worst Contracts in Team History

4. Ryan Johansen cashes in after big-time playoff

Make no mistake, trading Seth Jones for Ryan Johansen looked great at the time, and Johansen would only affirm it in the two years after.  Even knowing what we know now, I personally would still make that trade, but the contract he would get has become hard to justify.

After a tremendous showing in the 2017 playoffs, which was unfortunately cut short due to injury, Johansen would receive a lavish eight-year, $64M deal.  This deal didn’t look that bad in the beginning, but ever since the 2019 playoffs, it has only looked like a massive dud.

For someone who is known as a distributor and not a goal scorer, Johansen has failed to create the opportunities that resulted in goals in the past.  Some would even contribute his lack of a work ethic to his declining stats.

Even then, placing Johansen on this list might be viewed as harsh by others.  Let’s not forget that the whole team was in a funk for the majority of the time since the 2019-2020 season started, and all of the Predators’ top offensive weapons were struggling.

Johansen’s performance in the most recent playoffs suggests that he might be able to return to playing at a high level when working hard and put in the right situation.

It is not the worst case scenario for Johansen, as he has four years left on his contract and lots of time to turn things around.  But right now, the $8M per year cap hit looks like a fairly drastic overpayment.

Johansen needs to show he’s a top line center to justify this contract in hindsight.