NHL: Detroit Red Wings at Columbus Blue Jackets

Columbus Blue Jackets center Ryan Johansen, who scored 30 goals last season as a 21-year old, is a restricted free agent that almost every team in the NHL would like to have.

(Russell LaBounty/USA TODAY Sports)

PHILADELPHIA – Waiting to see what Flyers GM Ron Hextall has up his sleeve?

Here’s how he can do it:

Threaten the Columbus Blue Jackets that he'll sign restricted free agent Ryan Johansen to an offer sheet.

Now that would get the hockey world talking because Johansen, 22 on July 31, is a 6-foot-4 center who’s one of the game's rising superstars.

Can the Flyers pull this off given their cap situation?

Sure, but the trick here is doing it in a slick way so that the Blue Jackets feel it’s in their best interest to make a trade with the Flyers, who love Johansen so much that they might be inclined to give up two of their best young players, centers Sean Couturier and Brayden Schenn.

The Flyers certainly wouldn't begin negotiations by offering Couturier, but they might reluctantly agree to include him in a deal for Johansen, who is seeking a long-term contract while Columbus prefers a short-term deal and called his last offer "disrespectful" and a "slap in the face."



Yes, we know the Flyers (and Flyers fans) don't want to lose Couturier, but Johansen, who scored 30 goals and 63 points last season, is a special player still not in his prime.

The Flyers, who were quiet on Tuesday's first day of the unrestricted free agent signing period aside from signing backup goalie Ray Emery, have been intrigued with Johansen for years. When they traded center Jeff Carter to Columbus three Junes ago, then-GM Paul Holmgren pushed hard for Johansen, the fourth pick of the 2010 draft who was coming off his rookie NHL season.

Holmgren ultimately settled for a deal in which the Flyers landed two standout players – Carter for right wing Jakub Voracek and the eighth overall pick of the 2011 draft, which was used to select Couturier.

Again, the Flyers' plan here would be to keep Couturier, but if even if they'd lose him and Schenn, they'd be set at center for their top three forward lines with Claude Giroux, Johansen and 2013 No. 1 pick Scott Laughton.

So here's what Hextall can do:

Trade center Vinny Lecavalier ASAP to free up more cap space, then tell Columbus to work out a trade ASAP or else the Flyers will sign Johansen to a six-year offer sheet for around $40 million.

At the moment, the Flyers are $1.24 million over next season's $69 million cap. By rule, teams can go 10 percent over during the offseason, thus the Flyers can take on another $5.6 million even with Lecavalier, who figures to be gone soon. (Keep in mind that the Flyers will gain $4.94 million cap space once the season begins when Chris Pronger is permitted to go on the long term injured reserve (LTIR).

The Flyers really have nothing to lose here by giving Columbus a scare, and as we know, they have a precedent of being creative with restricted free agents.

How can we forget two Junes ago when the Flyers signed Nashville restricted free agent Shea Weber, a superstar defenseman, to a frontloaded 14-year, $110 million offer sheet?

Word is Holmgren warned Predators GM Dave Poile to negotiate a trade or else Weber would be signed to an offer sheet Nashville can't match.

There was no trade, Weber signed the offer sheet and then Nashville used all 10 days it had to decide before matching with ownership using its own personal wealth.

New rules allow teams to offer just seven years to others' free agents nowadays and eight to their own, so no one will be offering Johansen a Weber-like deal.

But the Flyers have nothing to lose threatening Columbus with an offer sheet … and then signing Johansen to it.

Of course, Johansen has to be willing to come to the Flyers.

If he's willing, then the Flyers, despite not having much money, can make a big splash.