C’mon, you thought I was going to let this pass without dishing some reaction? I may be late, but I’m always late, so consider it on-time. Quatr already touched on the trade here, from a managerial perspective, but the Blueshirts are my team, and if we’re paying Nash $7.5 million a year then I want my two cents.
Rick Nash to the Rangers is huge. It’s the move that the Rangers so desperately needed to make, and they made it shrewdly, they made it prudently, and they made it calmly. They made it they way they almost never make it, which is to say without gutting their entire roster, without mortgaging their future, and without grossly overpaying. But the beauty of the deal is not that they acquired a prolific scorer for the price of: 1 overpaid second- to third-liner, 1 gangly, inconsistent Russian, 1 unproven defenseman and 1 late 1st Round pick – though that sounds better to me than the Beatles do to your parents – but rather that it addresses so many of the Rangers’ glaring needs.
This multifunctional feel stems from Nash’s versatility as a player. He’s big – as in 6’4, 216 pounds big – so he can be the player that Phil Esposito was in New York, stationing himself in front of the net and banging everything that comes his way at the goalie, in the sort of furious but soft-handed manner that masks the difficulty of the task.
He’s a sharpshooter, so he can be the player that Brendan Shanahan was, lurking above the circles and unloading wholesale rounds of one-timers and snap shots, exemplifying the “shoot the puck at all costs” philosophy that has so often escaped the Battalion on Broadway.
He’s an explosive north-south skater, so he can be the player that Alexei Kovalev was, winding up behind his own net and rushing the puck up ice, throwing his head and shoulders and hands this way and that, smoothly eluding forecheckers before bursting by defenseman.
This all bodes well for the Rangers’ punchless powerplay, which last year knew all kinds of bad, from mechanical to predictable to timid to perimetric to maddeningly unselfish. The Blueshirts were able to disguise this deficiency – or at least counteract its detriment – for much of the regular season with a hard-nosed, tight-checking even strength game, but it reared its ugly head in the playoffs where the extra-man unit looked less confident than Ryan Lochte at the Olympics. Ultimately, their ineptitude on the power play was a fatal flaw, as Tortorella’s crew bowed out in the Eastern Conference Finals after playing offensively starved hockey for much of the series and converting just 4 of 16 man advantage opportunities. After watching Andy Greene and Bryce Salvador – Bryce Salvador!! – stifle and strangle and stymie the high-profile stars in red, white and blue, it was clear the Rangers needed another weapon.
But Nash is more than just a band aid surgery for the power play. Glen Sather wouldn’t have committed countless hours to acquiring a one-dimensional, power play specialist. (I hope). And even if he had, his Bench Boss would chew the new guy up and spit him out on the waiver wire faster than Sam Rosen can say “It’s a power play goal!” Tortorella doesn’t have time for one-way players, players that flourish in the offensive zone but neglect their defensive responsibilities, players that savor individual glory over team success, players that amp up their game only when it serves them. No matter how gifted a guy may be offensively, if he is not accountable in his own end, he will not play in Tortorella’s system. Under his watch, nothing is granted.
Fortunately for Nash, he has the tools to thrive under Torts, and it seems he has the right mental makeup as well. When asked about his new coach, he replied, “From what I understand, he’s a very demanding and tough guy to play for and he really preaches hard work. That’s what you expect from a coach, that’s what you want.” It’s often easy to say the wrong thing in New York, but that was an exceptionally professional response from the newcomer, showing not only a tactfulness with the media but an attitude complementary of his coach’s.
And don’t forget, he’s extremely strong on the puck too, so he can be the player that Jaromir Jagr was for the Rangers, holding possession along the boards and behind the net with stubborn resolve, sealing off defenseman with his massive, tree-like frame and then working the puck toward the front of the net with defenders draped futilely over him, like flies that a horse shakes off its back.
He can be like all of these players if he simply is himself. His diverse skill set will allow him to help the Rangers on the power play, on the penalty kill, and during 5 v 5. That is, if Tortorella allows it.
After all, Nash will have to earn every minute of his ice time. And he’ll do this by embracing, by embodying, the “defense-first, me-second” philosophy that his coach preaches. He will have to chase down pucks in the offensive zone and clash with bruising, unsparing defenseman. He will have to work tirelessly in the defensive zone and throw his body in front of thunderous blasts from the point. He will have to do all this and score goals, which is a tall task even for one of the world’s finest players. Of course, one would hope that Nash came to New York, to the big stage, to the unyielding Atlantic Division, not only to vie for a championship, but also to accept new challenges. For as he will quickly learn in the City that Never Sleeps, the best never rest.
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