Ryan Johansen: NHL prospect in a familiar package

Austin Kent
December 28, 2010

Forgotten amongst the seemingly endless argument over who would be selected first overall in the 2010 NHL Draft were a lot of top quality hockey players with the potential to contribute at the professional level – particularly Portland Winterhawk and future league star Ryan Johansen.

Six months have passed since the day that debate was settled and it’s already easier to pay proper respect to the rest of the players who rounded out the top 10.

Though they may not have skyrocketed into the pros as rapidly as first two picks Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin, a handful of the NHL’s top prospects have made the most of their extra time in junior, especially recently on the international stage.

Johansen is one of a number of future pros, even All-Stars, currently representing their countries at the 2011 IlHF World Junior Hockey Championships in Buffalo, NY. Bookended by Canadian blue liner Erik Gudbranson and Swiss winger Nino Niederreiter, he’s one of three Canadians drafted in the top six last summer currently representing their team in the tournament.

“It’s a tremendous honor, even when I go back to my club team it will put a lot of confidence in my game,” says Johansen, a top Canadian forward, of being named to the team. “When this tournament is done and I go back to Portland I’m just going to take advantage of it and make the most of it.

Drafted fourth overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets, Johansen has been easy to miss. Whereas Hall and Seguin were called up to the NHL and never sent back, 18-year-old Johansen has remained in the Canadian Hockey League, although scoring abundantly and taking names.

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Currently a member of the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks, one of the other reasons you may have been caught off guard by his contributions early on for Team Canada is the fact that – at least heading into the tournament – Johansen may not even be the most popular player on his own team.

The aforementioned Niederreiter, the fifth pick in that same 2010 draft, has already had the privilege of making a name for himself in the NHL. Known perhaps more for being the victim of an unexpected Michael Cammalleri slash in preseason, Niederreiter has at least had the advantage of getting his feet wet in the show, notching a premiere goal and assist in the process.

Johansen, through no fault of his own, never had that opportunity. Yet he did, however, reap the benefits of training camp at the professional level, imbibing everything the club – and team captain Rich Nash in particular – had to offer.

“Sometimes it’s not always the big things, it could be the little things on preparation,” said Johansen of his experience last September. The experience helped transform an already dominant hockey prospect into one even more capable of grinding away big time scoring opportunities when his team needs them most. “I remember going into the Blue Jackets camp and I was just one of those little boys kind of sitting in the corner, watching and listening to everything, learning about what it takes to be a pro. I think I jumped up a step in my game and in my maturity off the ice.”

Nowadays it’s hard to imagine a Blue Jackets future without the 6’2″ forward as an instrumental part. Citing Joe Thornton as a primary influence in his hockey aspirations, Johansen knows exactly the role he wants to fill at the pros and for Team Canada over the course of the World Junior tournament.

“I’d say I’m just a big playmaker with good vision and good puck control, a good two-way centerman.”

Sound familiar?

That vision has already equated to success for Canada. In the team’s debut game against historic rival Russia, Johansen put home the eventual game-winning goal on a third period power play.

“I think we’re feeling pretty good. We’re gaining a lot of confidence in our team now and in the last couple games, knowing that we have a lot of depth throughout our team.”

Having already notched 36 points in 31 games for his WHL Portland Winterhawks – and now a prominent figure for the most prominent team in the World Juniors – there’s no mistaking that Ryan Johansen is going to be in the spotlight for a while.

He may have slipped under the radar on draft day last summer, but no longer is he one of the little boys in the corner, simply just sitting, watching and hoping to learn.

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The Author:

Austin Kent

Austin Kent is the Editor-in-Chief of The Good Point and the Sports.ws Network.