What happened on July 23 in the history of the New York Rangers
On this date in 2012, the New York Rangers acquired Rick Nash, the one player that Glen Sather lusted after for years. The Columbus Blue Jackets star was the prototype of the power forward who could also score. In nine years since being selected first overall in the 2002 draft, he had averaged 32 goals and 61 points per season.
The trade was finally consummated six months after Nash had told Blue Jackets management that he wanted out of Columbus. In January, he had approach Jackets GM Scott Howson and asked to be traded to a contender. Nash was insistent that his trade demand was not a selfish request and he wanted the team to get as much as it could to help in their effort to become competitive. At the same time, it was obvious that he didn’t want to be part of that rebuild. It was quite a message from the team captain and it started the ball rolling towards the trade.
The Rangers came close to acquiring Nash at the trade deadline, but backed away when it was obvious that the Blue Jackets demands were too high. The Blueshirts were dealing from a position of strength as they were one of a handful of teams on Nash’s pre-approved trade list.
Here was the final deal.
While the Rangers made it to the Stanley Cup Final in 2014 they never did win the championship with Nash, but this is a trade that will go down as one of the most one-sided in team history.
Anisimov played one full season in Columbus before being flipped for Brandon Saad. Dubinsky played seven injury-ridden seasons for the Blue Jackets. Erixon was a washout and the first round pick, Kerby Rychal, never panned out for Columbus.
Nash played six seasons in New York, scoring 42 goals in 2014-15. Hampered by concussions late in his Rangers career, he was traded in 2018 for Ryan Lindgren and a first round pick that was traded so the Blueshirts could draft K’Andre Miller along with Ryan Spooner who was traded for Ryan Strome. So, the Blueshirts got six years of Nash plus two defensemen with bright futures in New York and their second line center.
Oh yes, what about that third round pick in the 2013 draft? That turned out to be Pavel Buchnevich. That alone makes the Nash deal a slam dunk for the Blueshirts and it happened on this date.
Today’s birthdays
23 NHL players have been born on July 23 and not a single New York Ranger is in that mix.