Rick Nash: New York Rangers Superstar?
Rick Nash had an entire summer to think about what went wrong last spring. While his New York Rangers made an inexplicable run to the Stanley Cup Finals, Nash was making news for all the things he wasn’t doing and many in the media and fans alike placed the majority of the blame squarely on his shoulders after the team’s defeat to the Kings. But lucky for the Rangers and their fans, Rick Nash isn’t letting it bother him this season.
That’s because the 30-year old winger is off to the fastest start of his career. Through seven games he’s already scored eight goals and finds himself one off the league lead early in this season. Sure, he won’t score 94 goals this season or keep up his ridiculous 32% shooting percentage (his previous career high was 18.2%), but for a Ranger team that has been dealing with injuries to two key offensive components and still trying to figure out it’s bottom-six situation, Nash has carried the load by scoring in all but one game so far (even though he did score the shootout winner in that lone game). Right now Rick Nash is the superstar the Rangers hoped they would receive when they traded for after the 2012 season.
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And that seems to be the issue with Rick Nash: is he really a superstar? He’s produced some gaudy regular season numbers (344 goals in 790 career games) and was a perennial all-star with Columbus. Of course his Blue Jackets only made one playoff appearance where they were summarily swept by the Red Wings. After years of team futility, Nash decided to abandon ship and requested a trade to the New York Rangers. For the price the Rangers paid (Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, Tim Erixon, and a first round draft pick), the Rangers were expecting a superstar, especially come playoff time.
However in 41 career playoff games Rick Nash has only scored five times and added 13 more assists. His Rangers’ postseason career has actually been slightly worse with only 15 points total in 37 games. For a “superstar” carrying a $7,800,000 cap hit, it’s no surprise the Ranger fans were ready to throw him overboard last spring as the team won in spite of Nash’s ineffectiveness. The cherry on top occurred in game five of the Finals in overtime where Nash seemingly had an open net and a chance to keep his team alive in the series. Shot taken…shot missed. It was partially deflected, but it was just another reason for the Ranger faithful to curse at its highest paid skater. Minutes later the Kings were celebrating and the Rangers were sulking.
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But so far so good this year for Rick Nash and the Rangers as he’s off to a blistering start and barring injuries, should post his best regular season with the Rangers since he arrived. The funny thing with Nash is that with his God-given ability and size, he should be potting 40 goals a year at a minimum and the hockey fan in me is often left disappointed in him (although the Islander fan in me fist-pumps while rocking an Alexi Yashin jersey…turtlenecks for everyone!)
Of course he could score 60 goals this regular season and bomb again in the playoffs and the only thing Ranger fans will remember is the playoff flop (and rightfully so). The Rangers are built to win now and will need Rick Nash “the superstar” this spring if they hope for a repeat of last year’s surprise run. If they get Rick Nash “the normal playoff performer,” it’ll most likely be an abbreviated post-season appearance this spring for the Rangers.