From Blue Jacket to Blue Shirt: Rick Nash Headed to New York Rangers

Added by Dante Vassallo on July 23, 2012.

The NY Rangers and Columbus Blue Jackets have completed a trade that sends Rick Nash to New York.

The New York Rangers have finally completed the long-speculated trade for premier power forward, Rick Nash.

According to TSN, the package going the other way is made up of Artem Anisimov, Brandon Dubinsky, Tim Erixon, and a first round draft pick.  There are also other unspecified pieces coming back to New York.

Philadelphia’s signing of Nashville star defenseman, Shea Weber, to an offer sheet may have served as a catalyst to get this done.  If Philly ends up with Weber, a hated division rival would improve dramatically as Weber is one of the best defenseman in the NHL.  If they don’t, there’s a good chance the Flyers would turn their attention to Nash.  Consider this a preemptive…response?  Not sure that makes sense.

The Rangers may not be done adding to the offense, though.  Shane Doan continues his NHL Organizations Tour, and New York was one of his first stops.  Should he decide to leave Phoenix, the Rangers would love to add him as well.

The players traded from the Rangers to Columbus combine for a cap hit of $7,825,000 next season, after which Anisimov would need a new, likely more expensive contract.  Rick Nash comes with a cap hit of $7,800,000 on his own, and will continue to do so for the next six seasons.  That still leaves roughly $13 million of cap space to sign RFA Michael Del Zotto and possibly Anton Stralman who showed promise in the playoffs.  That would leave plenty of room to offer Shane Doan an appropriate contract.

I have never been in favor of trading Brandon Dubinsky, and expect him to have a very solid NHL career.  With Anisimov and Prust (lost to free agency on July 1^st), three major pieces of last year’s incredibly successful and wildly popular New York Rangers team are now gone.  Only time will tell what these departures will do to team chemistry.

Long considered one of the best talents in the game, Nash has had little help in Columbus.  In New York, he joins a star-filled roster with the likes of Ryan Callahan, Marion Gaborik, and Brad Richards on offense.  Hopefully he can have a positive impact on the youngsters as well, particularly Kris Kreider who has similar physical attributes.

In New York, Rick Nash will get his chance to win a cup and be a superstar in the NHL.  The expectations are high, as was the cost of acquiring him for many fans, though others will say the Rangers got off easy by managing to keep Stepan, Kreider, and Del Zotto out of the deal.  Your move Philly.  I hear Semin is still available.