Nash celebration: unfortunately all too infrequent this season.

Nash celebration: unfortunately all too infrequent this season.

Could the Rangers be a contender without Rick Nash on their roster? If you think the answer to that question is yes, then you may have come to a similar conclusion about what the Rangers should do with Rick Nash as I did. Let me qualify this by stating I am a huge Rick Nash fan.

I’m a proud owner of a blue #61 jersey, a signed Nash puck and have followed his career since he emerged as a major prospect for the OHL London Knights. However, after this season comes to an end – and regardless of how it ends – it may be in the Rangers’ best interests to move Nash and the final two years of his $7.8m/year contract.

At some point your best players need to be just that. At some point, the forward you pay $7.8m a year to score goals needs to score goals. At some point, hustle, a defensive conscience and ‘driving possession’ isn’t enough. Nash needs to produce on the ice.

Nash last scored a goal in December. That’s not good enough, even allowing for the unfortunate injury he sustained. With 12 goals on the season, Nash is well behind where a player of his talent, experience and cap commitment should be. In his last 98 games (including the playoffs) Nash has 26 goals, again that’s just not good enough. At some point it does need to be about production.

If we are being brutally honest, as a Ranger, Nash has flashed his obvious brilliance but it’s fair to suggest he hasn’t lived up to his reputation or his contract. His first year in New York, he was a point per game go-to forward but that promising first showing in New York was undermined by his (first) playoff letdown.

Nash’s second season was simply subpar and even last year’s 42 goal career high regular season was built off a hot start that suffered from a limp ending. Nash has been inconsistent as a Ranger and you expect – and need – more from your best forward and your highest paid skater.

Nash is 32 in June. It’s fair to suggest he’s peaked. Too often this season he hasn’t been able to be the difference for the Rangers. However, as a veteran filled team in the middle of their window of contention the Rangers simply need Nash (and to be fair to him, several others) to deliver. The time has come for the mitigating circumstances and inconsistencies to stop. Settling for admirable effort and occasional hot streaks from Nash won’t cut it anymore if the Rangers are going to stay a contender.

Even if the Rangers are able to rid themselves of Dan Girardi or Marc Staal’s contracts more needs to be done. Alain Vigneault has openly discussed the ‘one last kick at the can’ status of this team and that changes are coming. Will those changes include moving Nash? Should those changes include Nash?

Nash still has a reputation as an elite forward with a rare blend of size, skill, a team first mentality and is clearly a high character guy – hell, he’s still a great player. He’s just not giving the Rangers what they need.

Clearly the Rangers have bigger problems than Nash. They have worse ‘culprits’ to blame for their current issues and they have worse contracts to rid themselves of but if the Rangers want to change the dynamic of a team that is seemingly in regression – that may even be starting to tune out this coaching staff – then Nash offers the best chance of a strong return.

Thanks to a no trade clause that runs to the end of his contract, Nash controls his own fate and there’s no reason to believe he’d be willing to move on. That said, there would surely be a market for a guy that is approaching 400 career goals and who enjoys a strong rep league wide.

The Rangers have been one of the best teams in the league for half a decade. Essentially they’ve been relying on an elite goaltender, (what was) a strong defensive unit and basically the productions levels that equated to a deep group of second line forwards – even taking Nash into account.

One Nash season aside, when was the last time the Rangers enjoyed a player whose production truly equated to a first line star player? (The answer to the rhetorical question is Marian Gaborik and his 86 point season in 2009-10). Ironically, Gaborik was chased out of New York yet his numbers stand up against Nash’s.

Remove Nash (and his contract) and replace him with a second line winger who offers you twenty goals a season and would the fall off really be that dramatic? Could the Rangers still be a contender sans Nash? Food for thought.

 

 

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