Calgary Flames Need To Show Interest In Ryan Johansen

The Calgary Flames haven’t exactly lit up the scoring sheets this year so far; maybe Ryan Johansen of the Columbus Blue Jackets is an option for them as a first line center?

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As reported by theScore, the Columbus Blue Jackets center is reported to be ‘softly in play’ on the trade market, not being actively shopped but also not completely off the table should the right offer be presented to general manager Jarmo Kekalainen.

The player has remained incredibly coy on any rumors, in fact in an interview with TSN’s Frank Seravalli, he said ‘might as well use (the trade talk) as motivation.’ Those words speak as much of the player’s personality and knowing some things are out of his control, as they do to the nature of trade rumors in general.

RELATED: 5 Potential Trade Destinations For Ryan Johansen

Looking at the Calgary Flames current roster, there is no doubt that a player like Ryan Johansen certainly could add something. He’s coming off a 71 point season last year and is already in fine form this season, with 17 points at the quarter season mark. That’s exactly the kind of center that the Calgary Flames could do with on their first line.

Partner him up with Johnny Gaudreau and there’s a confidence they’d be able to build some chemistry. Granted, there’s never a guarantee (as evidenced with the Pittsburgh Penguins’ struggles when they paired Phil Kessel and Sidney Crosby together), but Johhny is young enough that he should be able to adapt to any player alongside him.

What would the cost be to bring someone like Johansen in and what would the Calgary Flames be willing to give up?

The feeling is they’d want to ditch someone like a Dennis Wideman or potentially a Kris Russell, they would definitely not part with names like Sean Monahan, Sam Bennett or Gaudreau. Would Jiri Hudler be an option in any trade? Maybe?

If the Calgary Flames gave up any pairing of those assets then it’s arguable they’d be over-paying. On the flip of that though, if they were to offer draft options you’d have to question whether there’s any seriousness to their rebuilding of the organization.

Hypothetically, a deal looks like this:

This is a bit of an undersell for the Blue Jackets and would be seen as a bit of a steal for the Calgary Flames; if the management team pulled this off – kudos to them.

More likely:

For the Calgary Flames to pull this one off, the backroom staff will need to pull off an absolute coup or lose at least one of their talented prospects.

Looking at all of the options, acquiring Ryan Johansen is something the Calgary Flames should definitely put a lot of thought into.

It’s not too often a younger center comes up as even somewhat available on the trade market; he’s young enough to form help with the building of the team’s core in a rebuild and all-round has more upside than downside.

Hypothetical trading is great, let’s see wait and see if the Calgary Flames do make an approach to the Blue Jackets.

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What do you think? Are our hypothetical trades even realistic? Who do you think the Calgary Flames would need to give up to acquire Ryan Johansen? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.