New York Rangers: The Ever-Growing Rick Nash Trade Tree

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NEW YORK, NY – DECEMBER 12: Rick Nash #61 of the New York Rangers and Matt Calvert #11 of the Columbus Blue Jackets collide as Jack Johnson #3 of the Blue Jackets looks on at Madison Square Garden on December 12, 2013, in New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

The Trade

July 23rd, 2012, the trade happened. His new home would be the New York Rangers as, of course, the Blueshirts were following their historic tendencies of chasing top-end talent. As the Rangers were trying to push their young core over the top in their pursuit of the Stanley Cup, they deemed it necessary to go and get another winger that could put the puck in the back of the net.

So we had it. New York was parting with two pieces from its young core and adding a piece that they hoped would be able to take them to the promised land in the Stanley Cup Finals. Well… Nash and the Rangers made the finals in 2014, but we all remember the pain when that series ended thanks to the overtime winner from Alec Martinez. I apologize for making that memory reappear in your mind.

Nash in New York came as advertised. Scoring 289 goals and 258 assists for 547 points during his 674 career games in the Big Apple. That was just in his six years playing regular-season games. In his 73 postseason games, his totals dropped, but not a lot as he tallied 14 goals and 24 assists. This includes 3 goals and 7 assists in the Rangers run to the Stanley Cup Finals.

During the end of Nash’s time in New York and in the NHL, the Rangers sent out the infamous note to the fans that signaled that the organization was going to undergo a rebuild. They needed to retool and a lot of the beloved veterans on the roster were going to find themselves moving out of town and Nash became a victim of that. He was eventually dealt out to the Boston Bruins.

Steven Delisle never troubled the big club. He had a few games with the Hartford Wolf Pack but he was included to move a contract out so the Blue Jackets could take back all three of Erixson, Dubinksy, and Anisimov. He was never going to be someone that would impact the NHL rosters despite having a good career in the minor North American Leagues. We’ll get to that third-round pick later, but let’s kick the can down the road and follow Rick Nash.

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