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New York Rangers Need Offense From Rick Nash This Postseason

By Steven Carollo

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Will this finally be the postseason that Rick Nash breaks out offensively for the New York Rangers?

Rick Nash may be one of the best defensive forwards in the game, however, that is not what he is most known for or paid for.  Nash is currently being paid by the
New York Rangers to score goals, more than anything else.

New York Rangers
New York Rangers /

New York Rangers

Nash can score with the best of them in the regular season, as his 42 goals, 27 assists, and 69 points this season clearly shows, however, his career postseason offensive numbers have been a huge disappointment.

In 41 career postseason games, for both the Rangers and Columbus Blue Jackets, Nash has only 5 goals and 13 assists, totaling 18 points, and is a -2.

It is almost like Nash becomes an entirely different player once the postseason starts, but if the Rangers want to advance in the playoffs this season, get to the finals, and this time win it all, Nash is going to have to step up his game and have the best postseason of his career.

It is actually amazing that last season the Rangers made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final with very little offensive production out of Nash.  But with the increased competition in the Eastern Conference this season, I do not see the same happening again.  And even if somehow it does happen again, last season proved that Nash’s inability to score clutch goals, along with the rest of the team, definitely cost them the series against the Los Angeles Kings in the Stanley Cup Final.  And since Nash is paid to be the Rangers’ best goal scorer, when the offense struggles to score goals, he gets most of the blame, whether it is fair or not.

Now of course there is no guarantee the Rangers will get that far again this season, since anyone can eliminate anyone in the playoffs and it does not matter at all that the Rangers will finish the regular season with the most amount of points in the NHL, but a strong offensive postseason by Nash would certainly help.

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Nash needs to have a break out postseason starting next week, not only for the Rangers’ sake but for his as well.  For the Rangers’ sake in order to help them succeed and advance, and for his sake so he does not continued to be labeled as a small time, regular season performer.

Nash may be a top forward in this league but, in my opinion, he will never be “elite” until he gets this postseason monkey off of his back that’s been weighing him down his entire career.

Next: NHL: Eastern Conference Playoff Picture, Scenarios

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