How Glen Sather Should Approach Trading for Rick Nash

A Yahoo! article recently posted on the Puck Daddy blog talked about the potentiality of Rick Nash being traded to the Rangers. The face of the Columbus Blue Jackets has a no-trade clause, but can be asked by the organization if they want to invest in the future, and apparently, the Rangers are the front-runner if that happens. Nash is a dangerous winger, and is in need of a great centerman, which the Rangers have in Brad Richards, that could propel Rick Nash and his massive contract.

The scenarios that are being tossed around for this trade are that the Rangers would give up Brandon Dubinsky, a pick, and a prospect in order to get Nash. Nash is under contract until 2018, and is priced at $7.8 million. By dropping Dubinskys $4.2 million, there is possibility for room, but at what price could the Rangers be giving up for Nash?

Prospect talks for the trade are being named with Chris Kreider, a young and talented player that shows quite a bit of promise coming out of college soon.

According to this blogger, the price is too high for this one.



I'd like to use two teams as examples for scenarios that could possibly happen if this trade goes down under the circumstances stated above: The New York Knicks, and the New Jersey Devils. Two seasons ago, the Devils traded for elite goalscorer, Ilya Kovalchuk, and gave up prime core players in Johnny Oduya, Niclas Bergfors, and a first round pick the Thrashers Jets still get to use this year on the Devils. That season, the Devils were the second seed in the Eastern Conference, but were bounced in the playoffs by the Flyers in the first round. That summer, the Devils payed Kovalchuk a career contract of 12-years and $101 million dollars, which put them over the cap, and forced them to get rid of potential home-grown talent that could have molded perfectly into the system. The following season, the Devils missed the playoffs.

Now, going cross-sport, I want to bring up the Carmelo Anthony trade for the New York Knicks. As a Knicks fan, and a Carmelo fan (before he came to the Knicks), I was thrilled when I heard there was a possibility for one of my favorite players to come to my favorite basketball team. Last year at the NBA trade deadline, the Knicks gave up nearly half of their starting roster in order to swing a trade for Anthony. After that trade, the Knicks showed a lack of cohesiveness heading into the final stretch of the season, and in the playoffs, were trounced by the Boston Celtics 4-0.

While on paper, it would seem that trading for Rick Nash would strongly benefit the Rangers, but is it coming at too great of a price? This blogger believes so. Rick Nash could add tons of benefits, but with that comes a player who has never played in a big market, a player who has no idea how the system works, and a player with a contract that could potentially cripple the cap-hit for a few years if it does not pan out. To me, a trade for Rick Nash is something the Rangers should let go by.

So here is an open plea from us here at The Clinic to Glen Sather. We like Dubi, we like Kreider, and we feel that trading for Rick Nash would be a detriment to this teams recent success. Please, do not trade for him!