The New York Rangers may be willing to move star forward Rick Nash reports Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.ca. The 31-year-old had a down season with the Rangers, battling injuries and slumps, scoring just 15 goals in 60 games which was the lowest single-season total of his career. Despite the struggles, Nash is still a dominant goal-scorer and should be coveted on the open market. He’s owed $7.8 million over the next two years and has a partial no-trade clause.
Nash won’t be easy to deal, but here are three destinations where he could potentially land.
Carolina Hurricanes
The Hurricanes missed the playoffs this year, but the team is on the right track with excellent coaching and player development. They’re stocked full of good, young defensemen and are a goaltender and top-line scorer away from competing. Carolina finished 27th in the NHL with 2.39 goals per game. They purged long-time leading scorer Eric Staal and need a player who can generate offense in his place. Nash would be a great fit.
Outside Jeff Skinner and Elias Lindholm, the Hurricanes are extremely thin on the wing. Adding Nash, who’s one year removed from scoring 42 goals, would give them an offensive threat who can play on the team’s top-line.
Carolina is in a great cap situation and would hypothetically have no problem obtaining Nash’s contract. The team doesn’t have any big restricted free agents to sign this offseason and are flush with cash, without even factoring Cam Ward’s $6.3 million cap hit which is coming off the books. They could realistically absorb Nash’s contract and send fewer assets the Rangers way by doing so. While it’s a two-year deal, Carolina could slide that into their cap without issue.
New Jersey Devils
The Devils produced the fewest goals per game in the NHL at a paltry 2.22 rate. Outside of Kyle Palmieri and Adam Henrique, no Devils forward scored more than 14 goals. As they stand now, they’re starving for offense. New Jersey will need to make a big move this offseason to acquire some offensive firepower and Nash could be a solution to their problems.
New Jersey is in need of practically anybody who can produce offensively, especially at the wing position. While they have to address some restricted free agents, they’ll have cap space available to possibility facilitate a move. Nash would give them a strong power forward who realistically should be a lock for 30 goals.
Would the team take a two-year flier on Nash? It’s hard to say. Adding his contract is a risk they might not want to take.
New York Rangers
The Rangers seem like the most likely destination for Nash. He could remain with the team for a bevy of reasons. New York might find his high cap hit hard to move, he might reject a trade if it doesn’t fall on his no-trade clause and perhaps the Rangers want Nash to rebuild his value before giving up on him.
New York is pressed right up against the cap, so moving Nash would be in their best interest, but trading him for nothing doesn’t make sense. If they can facilitate a trade which both improves their cap situation and brings in a decent return, they should do it, but entering next season with Nash on the roster isn’t a hinderance to the team.
