Center Ryan Johansen could be traded, Columbus Blue Jackets president John Davidson told The Columbus Dispatch.
"The situation is, we're in a position where we're trying to upgrade our team. If we can make a deal, I don't care who it is, we're sitting at the bottom of the heap right now," Davidson told reporter Aaron Portzline in an excerpt of a Q&A posted on the newspaper's website Friday. "Unless the contract stipulates otherwise, everybody's tradeable. That's hockey. It could be [Johansen] or it could be anybody else. If we feel it's the right deal, we make the deal."
The Blue Jackets are 12-19-3 and had lost five straight before a 7-5 win at the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday. Johansen, 23, was a healthy scratch after coach John Tortorella benched him for the entire third period of a 5-1 loss to the Dallas Stars on Tuesday.
"He's an important guy to our organization," Tortorella said before the game in Arizona. "Let's not kid ourselves, he's a very important guy. It's just a reset for him, in understanding - trying to have him understand - what we're looking for, not just in the points but in the play. … You can't look at it as a punishment; it's part of the process for him."
Johansen, the fourth player taken in the 2010 NHL Draft, has six goals and 16 assists in 31 games this season after he established NHL career highs in assists (45) and points (71) in 2014-15. He is in the second season of a three-year, $12 million contract, according to war-on-ice.com, and can become a restricted free agent after the 2016-17 season.
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