- Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets president of hockey operations John Davidson called Kurt Overhardt’s (Ryan Johansen’s agent) tactics as “extortion,” “embarrassing” and “absurd.”
“It makes no sense,” Davidson said. “When you see the numbers that are thrown at us, we shouldn’t even respond. That’s how bad it is. It’s embarrassing. And if the kid sits out (of training camp), he sits out.
“I wonder if the agent is going to pay him his money back that he’s going to lose by sitting out?”
Overhardt has apparently used Steve Stamkos, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews as comparables during contract talks.
“Absolutely not; he’s a good guy and a good player,” Davidson said. “But you can’t sit here and have the Stamkos and the Toews and the Kane thrown at us.
“He’s a good player, but he’s not Stamkos and he’s not Towes and he’s not Kane, at least not yet. He’s not.”
Davidson said the Blue Jackets were interested in going long-term with Johansen.
“We were thinking long-term if it was fair for both sides; we’re a very fair organization,” Davidson said. “But with the numbers they came back with … they are so one-sided it’s non-sensical. It’s extortion is what it is. I don’t make this stuff up.
“I’ve been in this league doing this for a long time now and this one here, it’s baffling is what it is. It’s baffling. Baffling.
“Just because a guy has one good year, are you supposed to all of a sudden hand him the keys to city hall? We’re not trying to low-ball a guy. We don’t low-ball anybody.”
- Ken Campbell of The Hockey News: Kurt Overhardt wouldn’t comment on Davidson’s comments as he doesn’t want to get into a war of words.
“Instead of focusing on personal attacks and innuendo, the most important thing to us to work in good faith to come to an understanding to make Ryan Johansen a Blue Jacket for years to come,” Overhardt said. “Ryan is committed to playing his role to help the organization continue to build a winning tradition and he has a great deal of respect for his teammates, coaches, ownership and management.”
- Elliotte Friedman of SportsNet: Overhardt yesterday.
“The most important thing I can do is not react,” he said. “This is not an emotional situation for me or my client. Ryan loves playing on Columbus. (He) is fully committed to the organization. We’re going to ignore the noise on the outside and focus on getting a deal done.”
Overhardt was the agent for Kyle Turris when he was in Phoenix, and eventually traded to Ottawa when they couldn’t reach an agreement. He also represented Brandon Dubinsky in 2009 who missed a week of training camp, Ryan Kesler this offseason giving the Canucks limited trade options, and taking a long time to get an entry level deal for Blue Jackets Kerby Rychel.
“He represents himself as a guy who has the team’s interest at heart as much as the player’s, but it’s completely the opposite,” one executive said. “I get that’s an agent’s job to maximize salary, but in the modern NHL, a player who wants to play on a winning team…there’s a certain amount of compromise that must occur. If you are truly trying for every (bleeping) nickel, you take away a team’s ability to get assets to make you win.”