Glen Sather Robs Columbus Blind

Rick Nash and the Rangers were both celebrating Monday night.

 Glen Sather became general manager of the New York Rangers in 2000s. He's the GM who brought in Bobby Holik, Scott Gomez, Eric Lindros, Pavel Bure and Wade Redden for ridiculous money over ridiculous years. He's the same GM who somehow survived four playoff-less years under the reign of dictator Dolan without getting run out of New York City. The same GM who twice had to take over as head coach because his choice in coach was a complete disaster. But he might also go down as the same GM who pulled off one of the greatest heists in the history of the NHL.

The Rangers acquired superstar winger Rick Nash yesterday for basically nothing. Four pieces were sent to Columbus in exchange for the five-time All-Star. One, they traded Brandon Dubinsky, an oft-injured player with 70-point potential no one's sure he'll ever meet. Two is Artem Anisimov a young guy who's better known for his gun celebration more than anything he's done during actual NHL action. Is this the main component to the package to Columbus? If it is as I think it is, then that's a travesty. Anisimov is a nice player, but I'm not confident in his ability to put up consistent 50-point seasons like they expect. The final piece, Tim Erixon, is an absolutely raw former first round pick who might have put up numbers for the Conneticut Whale, but has yet to show us any NHL talents of note. Finally you throw in the classic crapshoot late round first round pick. As I said earlier the Rangers acquired star winger Rick Nash yesterday for basically nothing.

Glen Sather strolled into Columbus, Ohio yesterday, walked into a bank, stepped up to the teller and told her to open the safe. She complied. He then walked in, cleaned out the whole vault and left a few pennies. The catch? He left a penny from 1810 in there. Simply put, yesterday's trade was masterful highway robbery executed by a general manager better known for getting robbed by overrated players and their money hungry agents. But hey, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it wasn't Sather. Maybe it was Rick Nash waiving his no-trade clause around like a AK-47 at the Blue Jackets management saying, "Send me to New York, or I ain't going nowhere." There's something here that tells me Sather took Nash's no-trade clause and turned it into an army marching upon Columbus' front office to forcibly remove Nash from his sad, sad Blue Jackets roots.

I've said it before, I don't like Rick Nash. I thought the Rangers made the right decision by not acquiring him at the deadline last year and especially not trading the docket for him. But I'll say the Rangers made a phenomenal move this time around. They needed a scorer, that was viciously clear in their living-on-the-edge playoff run that ended in Game 6 of last year's ECFs. However, needing a scorer didn't mean that they needed to empty out the piggy bank in order to get one, especially not one who was an ugly -19 last season. But here's the catch, they didn't empty out the piggy bank. They didn't even come close.

The Rangers could have traded Chris Kreider, Carl Hagelin or Derek Stepan, the latter was rumored to be seriously high on the Blue Jackets list, but they didn't trade a single one. A good amount of hockey people would have told you that Nash was worth those pieces plus one of these three young guys loaded with potential. Instead, they basically filled a need without even taking a minor hit in their style of play or surrendering their future. Dubinsky, who's the most experienced of the trade pieces, only played in nine of the Rangers 20 playoff games last season and just never seemed to integrate into the team properly.This Rangers squad seems no different from last year, except now they have an electrifying scorer that could be the final piece to this championship puzzle.

Sather and his Rangers took a giant step last year toward returning to the '94 Stanley Cup glory every Rangers fan salivates over. Acquiring Rick Nash may have been the last step. But really all the kudos goes out to Sather, who could have just re-wrote his legacy as the Rangers GM. All those failed years of second round exits and bad contracts could be erased from the Garden rafters if Rick Nash is the final component to a championship cog.