By Brad Lee
According to our old friend Spector and now TSN, Ryan Johnson signed with the Canucks. The contract is believed to be $2.4 million over two years.
What this means is that if Mike Johnson does not return as well (he was on a one-year contract when an injury forced him to shut it down for the season), the Blues will be down to one Johnson. Noteworthy indeed. Ryan Johnson's career? Not so much.
Look, we appreciate effort as much as anybody. And Johnson gave effort leading all forwards in the league with 105 blocked shots last season. He's a pretty good penalty killer. He can skate really fast. He had an easier time scoring on his prom night than most nights for the Blues.
In 547 career games, RJ has 34 goals and 68 assists. He's a career minus-82 with only one season on the positive side of the ledger. The guy will never be an offensive player and there's a limit to what those guys should make. Since he's the white Jamal Mayers, it's kind of fitting neither will be back next year. It was pretty obvious that the Blues were prepared to move on without Johnson and give his money and ice time to someone else.
No word on whether or not the Canucks who now have former Blue Scott Melanby are looking to sign Matt Walker. They might as well. They've tried to sign ever other Blues player they can. Is that because they've been so successful while they've been here?
But no matter what you think of RJ, we will never, ever, ever understand the rumor that has floated around the Interwebs that he dumped ESPN's Erin Andrews when she was an NHL correspondent in Florida. What were you thinking, man??!!
So what do you think of Ryan Johnson leaving for Vancouver? Frequent commenter Chris D is probabaly doing cartwheels wherever he may be.