The Rangers Made The Right Move Not Acquiring Rick Nash

Avoiding Rick Nash might have been the best move the Rangers made in years.

Over the last few weeks, as the trade deadline slowly creeped up on a NHL buyers and sellers alike, the New York Rangers were rumored to be heavily interested in Columbus' Rick Nash. Instead the Rangers offered a package considered too weak for Columbus' liking and inevitably stuck with the squad that had put them in first place in the Eastern Conference.

The Rangers, plain and simply, avoided a bullet by not offering exactly what Columbus wanted. The appeal of Nash is seriously apparent, I get it. Nash is a bonafide goal scorer, a play maker with abilities that can mirroring the likes of Steven Stamkos and Evgeni Malkin. At times he can be a human highlight reel, with a penitence for putting in dirty dangles like Havana Nights. Actually highlight reel is so amazing that it masks some of his glaring weaknesses. For one, he has never scored more than 80 points, and for a "playmaker" of his caliber to have never cracked the 80 point mark is downright stunning. I understand he plays for the Columbus Blue Jackets who have enjoyed their time in the Western Conference basement(Nash's Jackets have only made the playoffs once), but still scorers find a way to score no matter how bad their team is. The more glaring weakness of his game is his lack of effort on the defensive end. Nash just does not backcheck, I'm actually not sure he knows what that word means. On a more concrete note, the Blue Jackets star is a mind-blowing -75 for his career, and a ridiculous -23 for this season.

Rick Nash is overrated. He's the poor man's Ilya Kovalchuk because at least Kovy will get you 90+ points along with his ugly +/- stats. Most importantly in the New York Rangers case, his game does not fit Tortorella's defensive system. New York already has playmakers in Marion Gaborik and Brad Richards who fill the role of scorers within Tort's predominately grimy style of play. The only reason Nash' name was even mentioned in New York is because of Sather's(and New York's) love of the big time player. I'm sure Tortorella was pleading with Sather not to sacrifice a gel player like Dubinsky in order to amass a dazzler without substance. The Rangers are putting together one of their best seasons in franchise history, so if it ain't broke DO NOT fix it. After watching 24/7 I seemed to gain a sense of this team's fluid chemistry; these guys like each other. Chemistry has been a much debated item in all sports, but it is seriously real and this team seriously has it. Bringing in a hyped up, egotistical, one way center like Rick Nash seemed like a disaster for the Rangers.

So avoiding Nash, despite their weak attempts to actually acquire him, becomes the right move. Henrik Lundqvist is on pace to have one of the greatest goaltending seasons in the history of the NHL and has a good chance at a unanimous Vezina vote. They cannot waste it by blowing up the quality two way play in front of him. This talented Rangers squad is built on hard work and system players. But the key is that everyone is buying in, even Marian Gaborik(53 points and a +17)  who is a notoriously selfish player. Each player has a role and they are fulfilling it beautifully.

Bringing in Nash might have put the Rangers on Sportscenter Top Ten a few more times, but it certainly would have hurt their Stanley Cup chances.

For once, New York avoided acquiring a superstar, and I'm confident it's for the best.