#8 Rick Nash, 2012/2013 – Present
The Rangers acquired Rick Nash before the 2012-2013 season. He hasn’t been the player the Rangers thought he was going to be, but he has been outstanding nevertheless.
Nash peaked during the 2014-2015 season. He played in 79 games, netting 42 goals and 27 assists for 69 points. He finished seventh in MVP voting and was a +29 overall.
When Alain Vigneault took over as head coach, he expanded Nash’s use to the penalty kill. The result has been seven shorthanded goals for Nash since Vigneault took over. His size and skill set have allowed him to fit in beautifully in multiple situations.
Plagued with injury troubles as a Ranger, Nash only really met expectations in one of his four completed seasons. While with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Nash broke 60 points twice, and had two seasons where he finished with 59 and 57, respectively. He has only done that once as a Ranger.
However, in 285 regular season games, Nash has accrued 210 points. While he wasn’t what the Rangers thought he would be, he is certainly putting on a show on the stats sheet.
With this year looking to be among some of his better seasons with the New York Rangers, Nash has really shown his value to the team. His performance has been good enough to put him at #8 on the countdown.