Dreger on Johansen price point, Bruins' trade stance

Darren Dreger was on TSN 1040 Tuesday morning.

On the Ryan Johansen contract negotiations:

“The threshold for the bridge contract is Justin Schultz in Edmonton. What’s he, 3.6, somewhere around there? Before that it was Matt Duchene in Colorado at 3.5.

“Well, we know based on what we discussed on TSN last week that the bridge contract proposal from Overhardt was 3.5 in Year One and $6 million in Year Two. Well, that’s well over the average of 3.5, 3.6.

“So I think given the circumstance of the Columbus Blue Jackets, they would be comfortable – apprehensive, but comfortable – getting somewhere around $4 million.

“Now, that’s my speculation. But certainly around that 3.75 to $4 million times two. And it’s become abundantly obvious as to why. Boone Jenner was going to be the stop-gap. That was the plan, for Ryan Johansen, for as long as this stalemate continued. Now he’s out for an extended period of time with a fractured hand. So it’s bad, but they keep winning in the preseason, so maybe they’re not feeling the heat.”

On the Boston Bruins’ trade front:

“They still have an appetite to make some moves. The asking price on Johnny Boychuk is understandably very, very high and I’m told it’s pretty high on other defensemen like Bartowski and McQuaid as well. It sounds like Boston is willing to sit tight and just kind of let things roll here because of how cheap they got Krug and Reilly Smith.

Source: TSN 1040/ Transcript: Nichols on Hockey