Columbus Blue Jackets Take Huge Risk By Trading Ryan Johansen

There has been a lot of activity today in the NHL, and it’s topped off with the biggest trade this year. The Columbus Blue Jackets have traded center Ryan Johansen to the Nashville Predators for defenseman Seth Jones.

Ever since coach John Tortorella got behind the bench in Columbus, he’s had an issue with Johansen’s lazy defensive play. This resulted in Johansen being benched during the third period against the Dallas Stars on December 15th. Since then trade rumors about Johansen circulated the NHL with Columbus pulling the trigger on a trade with Nashville.

Many analysts will declare that Nashville won the trade, since there always needs to be a winner to a trade. For now each team has gotten exactly what they need. Nashville has finally gotten their elusive No. 1 center and Columbus has strengthened their defensive core to the point that in a few years they will have one of the best groups of defensemen in the league.

But if there needs to be a winner it will be decided in a few years. This is a long-term trade, meaning that the benefits or repercussions of the trade won’t be felt for a few years.

Johansen is an incredibly skilled center with 26 points in 38 games season and had a career high 71 points in 82 games last season. But he has had issues with consistency and defensive play, most noticeably this season. The next two years with Nashville will show whether Johansen is an elite player in the NHL or just a player who can score, but is invisible in the defensive zone.

Seth Jones will be a huge part of Columbus’ rebuild moving forward. This season Jones has 11 points in 40 games and had a career high of 27 points in 82 games last season. Columbus now has a very skilled defensive core that will only get better once prospect Zachary Werenski breaks into the NHL. Jones is still quite young at 21 years old, so his development over the next few years is crucial to Columbus getting the better deal in this trade.

The downside for Columbus is that they’ve lost both their No. 1 center and their top scorer last season. It will be difficult for them to replace Johansen so it’s important that trading for Jones plays off for Columbus.

This trade will help Nashville make the difficult playoff push heading into the second half of the season, and Columbus now has another good piece to add to their rebuild.