New York Rangers: Four best trade destinations for Rick Nash
The New York Rangers’ highest paid forward is a free agent after the season. Although the team is in playoff position, it might be best to trade him for some assets to rebuild the team’s minor league system.
The New York Rangers have been winning games on the back of Henrik Lundqvist for a few months now. While it appears to be a good thing on the surface, once you dig deeper you find the big disgusting wart that is the 2017-2018 New York Rangers team’s bigger issues.
The team’s inability to possess the puck and propensity to blow coverage on defense will bury the team down the stretch when Lundqvist comes back to earth. If it wasn’t for his rough start to the year, Lundqvist would be a sure-fire Vezina candidate (and still should be).
Since the team will end up imploding at some point, it would make sense for the team to trade any players that are on one-year contracts that they aren’t planning on re-signing. One of those players is Rick Nash. While he is a solid two-way forward, Nash isn’t worth the three year, $15 million dollar contract that he would probably get on the open market in the summer.
Because of this, the Rangers should shop their alternate captain on the trade market to bring back future assets. Here are some teams that could be potential suiters for Nash’s services.
Carolina Hurricanes
The Carolina Hurricanes are a team on the rise. They currently sit in the last wild card slot in the Eastern Conference with a 19-13-8. Like the Rangers they are a bubble team but unlike the Rangers, they haven’t made the playoffs since 2009. Making the playoffs is a huge deal for a small market team like the Hurricanes whereas it’s an expectation for the Blueshirts.
The Hurricanes have a young roster and only three skaters with meaningful postseason experience. For a team looking to make a big trade deadline splash, Nash could be a good fit down in Raleigh.
The Hurricanes currently rank 19th in the league in both offense and defense. They also have the 26th ranked power play and the 24th penalty kill. Nash would help out in all of those areas across the board. Plus, according to hockey-reference.com, the Hurricanes rank second in the NHL in Corsi, meaning Nash is going into a puck possesion system which could help jump start his up and down offensive season.
Nash would be a terrific mentor the Hurricane’s young roster. The ‘Canes have a lot of young players in their system and have seven picks in the 2018 draft to offer the Rangers in exchange for their alternate captain.
Vegas Golden Knights
Who would’ve thought that the expansion Vegas Golden Knights team would be in the playoff picture, let alone among the top teams in the league in their first season? They are a team that went from being a no-doubt trade deadline seller candidate to a no-doubt trade deadline buyer candidate.
According to Capfriendly, Vegas has $16 million in cap space to work with right now which puts GM George McPhee in a great position to add talent at the deadline. While the Knights don’t neccisarily need to take all of Nash’s money, the option could be there.
The Knights are getting a ton of production up and down their lineup but adding Nash to an already dangerous squad could be a game changer in the Pacific Divison’s playoff race.
While Nash obviously would bolster the forward group, his presence would be immediately felt on the Knight’s penalty kill which ranks 20th in the league.
The Golden Knights have 19 draft picks over the next two drafts. That is more than enough assets for the two teams to work out a deal.
Anaheim Ducks
The Ducks have just under $7 million dollars in cap space and rank 23rd in goals per game. They have just one forward who has eclipsed the 25 point mark so far this season and can surely use another upgrade at forward. That is where Nash comes in.
The Ducks are a perenial playoff team where Nash would almost surely waive his no-movement clause to go to. The team is tied for the last playoff spot in the Western Conference and will surely look to make yet another playoff push in the wide open Pacific Division.
Nash would be joining a veteran core of forwards including Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf, both of which played on team Canada with him in multiple different Olympics tournaments.
Even though the Ducks’ farm system ranks 26th in the league according to The Hockey Writers, they still have a wealth of draft picks to deal from. The Rangers could benefit from adding draft picks as it will give some of their younger players a chance to play more meaningful minutes down the stretch.
Los Angeles Kings
The Kings are having a revival of sorts under the guidance of new head coach John Stevens.
Nash has been linked to the Los Angeles Kings in trade rumors for years due to the team’s style of play. Over the years, their biggest crutch has been their ability to score. Although it is still their weakest area, they rank in the top half of the league in goals per game at 15 overall.
The Kings are similar to the Ducks in the sense that Nash would be adding yet another veteran presence onto a veteran-heavy core. A Nash acquisition would lead to the Kings forward group becoming perhaps the most versatile and deep core in the Western Conference.
The Kings have the cap space to take him on. According to CapFriendly, they currently have $6.6 million in cap room. With a plethora of draft picks in their arsenal and some interesting prospects in a rather limited farm system, they certainly have enough wiggle room to make a deal work.
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Plus, their is no need to worry about Nash using his no-movement clause to veto a trade to LA, as the Kings have won two Stanley Cup titles in this decade.