Broadway Bound: Rick Nash Traded To New York Rangers In 7-Piece Deal

Anisimov, never a favorite of Rangers coach John Tortorella, is himself just 24 and should easily improve on his 36-40 points if given three or four minutes of ice time per game over the 15 he was getting with the Rangers. His underlying numbers show him to be a strong two-way player along with Dubinsky, and though there’s nothing sexy or “30 goals!” about good two-way players, history shows they help win hockey games. The Rangers have now lost two of them.

None of which is to say the Rangers didn’t get the best player in this deal -- they better have, considering it was essentially a four-for-one deal (a token minor leaguer and a third-round pick from Columbus notwithstanding). But Nash at a $7.8 million cap hit through 2017-18 carries his own risk, and it’s amplified by the presence of fellow “franchise salary” players Richards and Gaborik up front. Even leaving Nash’s own two-way questions aside, one can’t help wondering how much value they’ll get out of $7.8 million per year.

Now, he’s just another face in the crowd.

In doing so, Columbus general manager Scott Howson assured that his franchise had virtually no chance of “winning” this trade.

Erixon had refused to sign with Calgary after being drafted, a decision that facilitated the trade to the Rangers. That’s concerning for a team like Columbus, which doesn’t exactly hold the reputation as a club with a ton of promise in their future. Blue Jackets blog The Cannon explains:

The biggest question from the Blue Jackets perspective: Why was the ultimate fetch so much lower than Scott Howson’s original asking price? Did he realize it was too much to ask and that he would never get what he desired, or was that all just posturing to begin with?

Over at Blueshirt Banter, Rangers fans are ecstatic about the trade.

It’s a scary lineup, indeed.

Nash immediately makes the Rangers more dangerous -- perhaps the favorite to again win the Eastern Conference. Columbus general manager Scott Howson has repeatedly made it clear that any team wishing to acquire Nash will have to pay a large price, and the chief reason a deal didn’t get done back at the trade deadline in late February was because multiple teams balked at Howson’s hefty asking price. The return he’s getting in this deal is underwhelming compared to that reported original asking price.

Nash will earn $7.8 million against the salary cap through the 2017-18 season. He had to waive his no-trade clause to move to the Rangers.

Imagine an NHL franchise taking a player with question marks, committing millions of dollars and multiple years to him, giving him a featured role on the team, only to see him demand a trade in which he dictates the terms.

Making it richer still? The protracted drama meant the Senators had to pay him a $4 million roster bonus in mid-summer ... after he had demanded a trade.

Surely, that it’s come to this is not all Howson’s fault. Nash and the organization clearly had a falling out over the course of the 2011-12 season, as the star winger clearly became fed up with life in hockey purgatory. The team has made the playoffs once in their history, and when the promises of winning days ahead turned into another NHL-worst year in Columbus, Nash finally asked for a trade.

More: Lest We Forget, Rick Nash Is Kind Of Screwing The Blue Jackets

Darren Dreger of TSN reports that Nash’s agent, Joe Resnick, will meet with Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson on Thursday afternoon. According to The Hockey News, Howson will meet with the media at 5 p.m. Could that meeting with the media mean a trade will be announced? Possible, but we’ll have to wait and see.

“Columbus has been good for me. I think this is good for Columbus.”

It hasn’t worked out that way.

Those efforts ended up unsuccessful, as Monday’s NHL trade deadline passed without any team giving up what Howson wanted in return for Nash -- the asking price was believed to be an NHL player, a prospect, and a first-round pick. Instead of pretending that he didn’t try to trade Nash, Howson decided to be up front about the situation.

In doing so, Howson presented a bit of news that might prove to be his ticket out of Columbus. The general manager announced -- completely unsolicited -- that it was Nash who went to management and requested they trade him. Howson may have been trying to cast Nash as the bad guy among the Blue Jackets fans, but the reality is that Howson harmed no one but himself with his decision to go public.

Howson didn’t reveal this in an answer to a question during the press conference. He said it as part of his own remarks, a detail that should not be ignored. In coming out and calculating such an announcement -- an announcement that was completely counter to the conventional wisdom surrounding the entire Rick Nash trade speculation at this deadline -- he’s clearly shifting the focus back on his star player.

Now, as Nash continues the rest of the season with the Blue Jackets, he’ll have to answer questions about wanting out. Howson, meanwhile, can defend his stance of refusing to trade his star player without getting the proper return for him. The general manager mentioned several times that the asking price was extremely high for Nash, adding that it “had to be high.”

Via Reddit:

It’s the only possible explanation. So what if he’s still on their website ...

For starters, Nash holds a no-movement clause and has to approve any trade. He’s reportedly given Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson a list of teams to which he’d accept a trade, and there’s a strong possibility that Nashville is not on that list. Besides, if Howson were to send Nash to a team in the division, he’d have to face him head-to-head six times a season. That doesn’t seem like a smart move.

That’s just another reason why a Nash trade to Nashville doesn’t make all that sense. (But on the flip side, think of the NASHville puns we’re missing out on. Shame.)

It has been widely reported that the Blue Jackets are asking for an NHL player, a top prospect and a first-round draft pick, and the Rangers have been at the forefront of the rumors and speculation that have surrounded the Nash sweepstakes for weeks. It seemed like they were willing to pay for Nash, and there’s always the possibility that they’re simply posturing less than 24 hours before the deadline in hopes that Howson could lower the asking price.

But that doesn’t seem likely, and if the Rangers truly are not involved in the trade talks anymore, the chances grow that Howson could simply hold on to Nash at the deadline.

You can get team-by-team coverage of the 2012 NHL trade deadline from around our network of hockey blogs. For more on the news, rumors and speculation surrounding the trade deadline, subscribe to our StoryStream.

But that seems like a curious deal from the Rangers perspective, considering the strength and depth of their defense has been perhaps their most impressive quality of their ascent to the top of the Eastern Conference this season. Losing one of two young defensemen who have been vital parts of that success and are clear parts of the future of the Rangers blueline would be an extremely high price to pay. Throw in the organization’s best defensive prospect in Erixon and the potential deal makes you even more curious.

You can get team-by-team coverage of the 2012 NHL trade deadline from around our network of hockey blogs. For more on the news, rumors and speculation surrounding the trade deadline, subscribe to our StoryStream.

Rangers fans at Blueshirt Banter love the deal, impressed with Glen Sather’s ability to get a third round pick in return for a guy who hadn’t been a contributing piece for the entirety of the season thus far. Check in with Litter Box Cats for reaction from Panthers fans.

You can get team-by-team coverage of the 2012 NHL trade deadline from around our network of hockey blogs. For more on the news, rumors and speculation surrounding the trade deadline, subscribe to our StoryStream.

Nobody ripped the organization or anything juicy like that, but several players did tell the Columbus Dispatch on Thursday that yeah, they’re nervous about the approaching trade deadline. And they’re prepared, too.

But really, you can understand why they might feel worried about a potential trade. As these players are telling reporter Aaron Portzline this, just down the hall, this is happening:

It makes sense that Doug Wilson isn’t willing to give up Couture, just as it makes sense that Scott Howson would go after Couture, a Calder Trophy candidate just a year ago.

You can get team-by-team coverage of the 2012 NHL trade deadline from around our network of hockey blogs. For more on the news, rumors and speculation surrounding the trade deadline, subscribe to our StoryStream.

Your team was at least supposed to compete for a playoff spot in the Western Conference this year, but instead, you’ve fallen off the proverbial cliff, all the way down to the bottom of the conference. You’re now out of the playoff mix -- hell, you were out of it by late October -- but the conventional wisdom is that much of it is not your fault.

But for the most part, your summer was strong. You built a playoff-caliber team and things just didn’t work out.

The Columbus Dispatch believes Howson also met with Rangers general manager Glen Sather on Sunday at Madison Square Garden, but it doesn’t seem like anything is on the immediate horizon seven days before the Feb. 27 trade deadline.

The Jackets are listening. It still doesn’t make sense for them to make a move unless they’re blown away by an offer, but of course, it’s possible a team does that over the course of the next week.

Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson and senior adviser Craig Patrick attended Saturday’s Flyers game and Howson spoke to Flyers GM Paul Holmgren, according to CSNPhilly.com.

The two were there not only to gauge the Flyers’ interest but also as scouts to see who they might be interested in acquiring via trade.

As we mentioned after the All-Star Game, the NHL’s trade deadline -- now up in less than two weeks -- is the next major event on the NHL calendar. Some years, it’s a pretty riveting time for a die-hard hockey fan.

But Nash is only 27, already has 277 goals, and if he’s willing to waive his no-move to go somewhere, he’ll do so with six years left on his contract. Yes, the cap hit is $7.8 million, but an under-30 player who has done what Nash has done is going to likely be worth that cash.

Unanswered, as of now.

You can get team-by-team coverage of the 2012 NHL trade deadline from around our network of hockey blogs. For more on the news, rumors and speculation surrounding the trade deadline, subscribe to our StoryStream.

But of course Howson says it’s false. He’s not going to say explicitly that the star player who’s been committed to Columbus for his entire career is on the verge of being shipped out of town. Nash has a no-trade clause, so any potential deal is in his hands, but it’s been reported in the past that Nash would consider a trade if he was approached about the possibility. Then, there’s this:

Would trading Nash help the Blue Jackets long-term? That clearly depends on the return coming back in the other direction, and you’d have to assume Howson would ask a King’s ransom for his star player. He’d likely get that ransom, too, from a team rich in young talent trying to make a run at a Stanley Cup this season.