from Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch,
Blue Jackets center Ryan Johansen will miss his second straight game today while he remains in Columbus to undergo a battery of tests aimed at determining why he is feeling fatigued.
The club and Johansen’s agent stated emphatically that Johansen’s absence is not related to his offseason heart scare or any response to new coach John Tortorella, who benched Johansen on Thursday in the final six minutes of a 3-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild.
“It’s nothing with his heart,” said Kurt Overhardt, Johansen’s agent. “He’s just not feeling well, and we’re trying to figure out why. His energy level has been down for a while. There’s no alarm here, but we want to get to the root of it. We want to do the right thing and make sure he’s 100 percent when he’s on the ice.
Overhardt and Blue Jackets management butted heads over Johansen’s contract negotiations in 2014, but the two are working together now. They met over the weekend in Denver, where Overhardt lives.
“We had a good conversation,” Overhardt said. “We’re together on this.”
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