New York Rangers: Rick Nash retires from professional hockey

After 15 years in professional hockey, former New York Rangers’ forward Rick Nash hung up the skates to avoid further risk of head injury.

Anytime a professional athlete has to retire for reasons other than their own terms, it’s a sad day. The journey begins at age three or four and can last more than 30 years by the time it’s all said and done. In the case of former New York Ranger Rick Nash, the very nature of hockey forced him to retire earlier than he wanted to.

In Nash’s 15 year career, he was the first superstar in the history of the Columbus Blue Jackets franchise, forced his way to the Rangers in hopes of chasing a Stanley Cup and ended up getting one last crack at the postseason as a member of the Boston Bruins during the 2017-2018 season.

In the two time Olympian’s career, he suffered upwards of five known concussions while at the NHL level. That does not account for time spent playing at the amateur level and the very nature of hockey means that head contact was inevitable.

The Rangers dealt him the day before the NHL trade deadline of 2018 to the Bruins when it became clear that the team would not be able to compete for a playoff spot. It was with Boston that the forward suffered the concussion he would not return from.

Nash retires a six-time all-star, he won the Rocket Richard Trophy in the 2003-2004 season and was a two-time Olympic gold medalist for Team Canada. The forward retires with 1060 games played in which he scored 437 goals and had a grand total of 805 points.

There was some conjecture as to whether or not Nash would return to a contending team and still be eligible for the postseason this year. According to Darren Dreger of TSN, Nash was in touch with the Blue Jackets, Maple Leafs, Sharks, Bruins and Penguins about possibly playing this season. All of the aforementioned teams had checked in with Nash in recent weeks.

Citing the risk of further brain injury, Nash left money on the table and a chance at capturing the one piece of hardware missing from his career.

Nash’s time with the Rangers will be micro-analyzed every single day based on even though he played well, he did not ultimately win a cup with the team. When he was acquired, the hope was that he could be the heir to the Jagr throne and bury goal after goal. Instead, he evolved into one of the league’s best two-way players at even strength.

From everyone at Bluelinestation, we wish Rick a happy and healthy retirement with his family. No one ever wants to retire before their ready, but long term health and quality of life post-hockey is more important