Nashville Predators Ryan Johansen out for the rest of the playoffs

Nashville Predators lose leading scorer Ryan Johansen for the rest of the playoffs with a thigh injury.

The Nashville Predators will be without their top center Ryan Johansen for the rest of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported that the 24-year old required emergency surgery on his left thigh following Nashville’s 3-2 overtime loss in Game 4 to Anaheim. In Game 4, Johansen played 27:28 despite suffering the injury.

The Predators are currently tied at two games apiece in the Western Conference Final against the Ducks.

Johansen was tied for the Predators’ team lead in points during the regular season with 61. In the playoffs, Johansen leads the Predators with 13 points in Nashville’s 14 games. The six-year pro is expected to take two to three months to recover from the injury.

The loss of Johansen will be difficult to overcome. Nashville does not have many creative offensive players. In place of Johansen, the Predators will depend more on Viktor Arvidsson and third line center Mike Fisher. Johansen averaged almost 21 minutes per game in the playoffs, and those minutes will be tough for Nashville head coach Peter Laviolette to replace. Fisher has been incredibly disappointing for Nashville throughout the playoffs. The soon to be 36-year old has zero points in the playoffs after recording 42 points in 72 regular season games.

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In addition to Arvidsson and Fisher, the Predators will need to get production from Calle Jarnkrok and Colton Sissons. Jarnkrok and Sissons will both see their minutes increase without Johansen. However, the duo has combined for just eight points in the playoffs. Laviolette will likely shift 36-year old Vernon Fiddler from the wing to center. Fiddler does not offer much offensively but he is a very capable faceoff man, winning 53.9 percent of his draws in the regular season.