Rick Nash’s name continues to be bandied about as one of, if not the, prized commodities of the NHL trading season.
Nash, who has 18 goals and 21 assists for the last-place Blue Jackets, has been linked to a number of teams, the New York Rangers among them. In this post over at Blueshirt Banter, Joe Fortunato writes that Columbus’ asking price may be too high for the Rangers:
It’s become clear that general manager Scott Howson wants a goaltender in return.
The New York Rangers aren’t exactly bursting at the seams with NHL-ready goaltenders (at least none Sather would be willing to move). If that happens to be a must when it comes to Howson trading Nash, then the Rangers are, in all likelihood, out of the bidding.
Same could be true for the Canucks. According to the National Post:
[Nash] isn’t coming to Vancouver before the National Hockey League dealing deadline because the price for Nash, both in trade and as a US$7.8-million salary-cap hit, are prohibitively expensive.
Detroit, too, has been discussed as part of the Nash sweepstakes. CBS’ Detroit affiliate published this article about whether or not the Wings could make a play:
I don’t know for a fact, but if Detroit were to actually get Nash, I assume prospect Brendan Smith, Valteri Filpula, Gustav Nyquist, and Darren Helm or Justin Abdelkader would be involved. Would you be willing to give that up? I wouldn’t!
Surely there will be no shortage of speculation as the Feb. 27 trade deadline nears.
For more on the Columbus Blue Jackets, go to The Cannon. You can also head over to SB Nation’s main NHL hub at SBNation.com/NHL.