Two years ago when the New York Rangers traded for the Columbus Blue Jackets superstar forward Rick Nash, they made the move because they felt, and rightly so, that they needed more offense to take the next step forward as a team, after falling short against the New Jersey Devils in six games in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Rangers traded popular, but not extremely important players Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, and Tim Erixon to the Blue Jackets in exchange for Nash.
During Nash’s nine-year career in Columbus, he scored 30 or more goals in a season seven times, while twice-scoring 40 or more. Nash also managed to stay relatively healthy in Columbus by playing in at least 74 games a season eight times in nine years.
After the Devils bounced the Rangers from the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Rangers decided to retool their offense and during the offseason they acquired Nash. Even with the 2012-2013 season being shortened because of the lockout the Rangers had every reason to believe that they would reach the Stanley Cup Finals. One of the key reasons for this optimism was Nash, unfortunately due to a combination of reasons, (Nash did manage to register almost a point per game, but it was in a soft quite type of scoring), the Rangers underperformed throughout much of the season, before ultimately falling to the Boston Bruins in the second round of the Playoffs.
Heading into the 2013-2014 season, the Rangers had every reason to believe that Nash would be healthy and productive. Neither would be the case, as Nash suffered another early concussion and when he returned, he seemed timid and not nearly the same player whom the Rangers couldn’t wait to acquire two years previously.
Nash has been labeled as a “soft player” during his time in New York, a label that maybe isn’t fully deserved and is definitely not easy to shed in this crazy for hockey city. However, there was one stretch of games last season that makes me believe that Nash could still salvage his career in New York.
When the Rangers traveled to Columbus in the middle of the season it was Nash’s first trip to Columbus as a Ranger, and perhaps the negative reception that the fans there gave him woke him up, because in the middle of that game Nash got into a fight with Blue Jacket Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. Nash is not a fighter, but on this night he was, and for the next few games Nash played angry, something we haven’t seen too much of since he came to New York, and he was productive during this stretch.
For Nash to succeed in New York, he needs to toughen up and get in the dirty areas near the goal crease. Only then will Nash return to what he was in Columbus. I for one believe that Nash still has superstar talent left in him, and the Rangers will most certainly need that if they hope to finally win the Stanley Cup this year.
Matthew Blittner is a New York Rangers writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on twitter @MatthewBlittner and like him on Facebook.
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