from Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch,
Ryan Johansen spent the past two days camping near his home in British Columbia, and the Blue Jackets spent the past two days adding a new wave of talent to the organization at the NHL draft.
But these are not peaceful, happy times for either party.
Contract negotiations between the Blue Jackets and their top offensive player are going nowhere, even after a meeting this weekend in Philadelphia between Johansen’s agent, Kurt Overhardt, and assistant general manager Bill Zito.
The road block to further negotiations appears to be the term.
“We’re not even close,” Johansen told The Dispatch. “They say ‘We want to sign you to a ‘bridge’ deal.’ We say ‘We don’t want to do a ‘bridge,’ and that’s the end of it.”
The Blue Jackets want to sign Johansen to a two- or three-year contract, which would expire when he still was a restricted free agent.
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