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

It’s been eleven years since the New York Rangers made the big trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets that saw the Rangers bring Rick Nash in from Ohio. Eleven years since the Rangers brought in the first overall pick from 2002. Doesn’t it seem like it was so much more recent than that? A lot of people remember exactly where they were when the news broke that Glen Sather had acquired Nash.

I talked about this trade and how it worked out for both teams a couple of days ago, so I’m going to mainly focus on the growth of this tree that came from this massive trade in 2012. If you haven’t read the deep dive into this trade and how it affected both organizations, I’ll briefly touch on it here but the idea is that this will be how this deal has grown and impacted the two organizations since.

So let’s start from the beginning. Columbus was awarded an NHL organization in 2000 and with their maiden voyage into the hockey world being particularly underwhelming, they were a frequent visitor to the doldrums of the league. As a basement dweller, Columbus was rewarded with higher overall draft picks in the hope that more talent would allow the Jackets to get better over time. So in 2002, with the first pick in the draft, they grabbed Rick Nash.

Nash would become one of the faces of the Jackets franchise as soon as he arrived in the Buckeye state. Nash won the Rocket Richard trophy as the league’s top goal scorer as a sophomore and continued to get better. But as Nash improved, Columbus saw the wheels keep spinning in terms of franchise success. Nash seemed to grow increasingly frustrated with one-and-done playoff appearances during his time in Columbus.

So, in the summer of 2012, after 9 years in Columbus, the Jackets agree to move on from their star forward.

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.

Nash’s Branch

As we follow the growing paths that this tree will lead us down, let us start with the big name. That is Rick Nash himself. As the window around the old guard of the New York Rangers started to slam shut, it was time for the Blueshirts to move off what they can and try to build for the future. Management determined that they were not going to win anything with this core and took it upon itself to rebuild this roster.

Nash was moved on to Beantown at the trade deadline in 2018. His time as a Bruin was relatively uneventful. In 11 games, he had 3 goals and 3 assists. In the playoffs, he recorded 3 goals and 2 assists for the Bruins in 12 games. Following the season, Nash retired after sighting injuries sustained to his head and fears of worsening his concussion moving forward. Columbus retired his number after this, but a sad ending to a great career.

As for what the Rangers got back, let’s start with the players. Ryan Spooner would not be in the Big Apple for long as he would be flipped to Edmonton at the beginning of the following season. This would be the trade that brought Ryan Strome to New York. While Strome was not the best player, he was a much-appreciated soldier for the team that had to endure the depths of the league as they rebuilt.

Matt Beleskey would stay in the minors as he was used as a cap dump here. He spent two seasons in the Rangers organization but never really impacted anything. He did play 5 games for the Rangers, scoring once in 2018-19. He’s not played professional hockey since the pandemic but hasn’t officially announced his retirement anywhere I could see when researching this.

If you have keen eyes, you may have spotted the guy from this deal still on the roster. That’s Ryan Lindgren. Everyone loves him because of his willingness to give up his body and play through any ailment, but as one of the few defensemen on this team that excels in the defensive zone, he’s an important part of the success of players like Adam Fox and that partnership has been vital for the Rangers success in recent seasons.

The Draft Picks

So if you’re following along, on the Rangers side of things there are 3 assets I have not touched on. The 2013 3rd from the original Nash deal, and the two picks the Rangers got back from Boston. That’s 2013 3rd, 2018 1st, and a 2019 7th-round pick. I think it is only right that we start with the 7th and work out way from there.

That 2019 7th was used to select Massimo Rizzo. If you’ve been following the league recently, you may recognize that name as the prospect the Carolina Hurricanes were supposed to trade to Philadelphia to reacquire Anthony DeAngelo. That is correct, the Rangers traded the pick for a 7th in 2018 that they used to select Riley Hughes. Hughes is still on the Rangers reserve list, but he is not setting the NCAA alight at Northwestern.

Moving on to the 2018 1st, which was also traded. That pick was used by the Ottawa Senators to select Jacob Bernard-Docker. But the Rangers traded that and a 2nd to move up to pick number 22 in 2018 where they selected defenseman K’Andre Miller. Miller is quickly becoming one of the biggest assets the Rangers have after a great breakout year for the Minnesotan defenseman. That’s 2 defenders you can trace back to this Nash deal.

Remember that I skipped over the 2013 3rd round pick that came with Nash from Columbus? Well, that was used to pick up Pavel Buchnevich. Buch had a great career in New York before he was traded to St Louis a few seasons ago. He’s been a productive member of that Blues roster, but they haven’t quite reached the same heights as they were achieving before he arrived.

This 2nd round pick was used to select Elias Salomonsson. While the jury is still out on this Swedish right-shot defenseman, it is important to note that this pick was also traded away, and we’ll get to where this was dealt to in a little bit, but just know that Salomonsson was not picked by the Rangers.

Blais was obviously sent back to St Louis at the trade deadline in the most recent season in the deal that saw Vladimir Tarasenko and Niko Mikkola come over. So, in a way, you can argue that the Rick Nash deal more than a decade ago had a direct effect on the 2023 NHL trade deadline for the New York Rangers in terms of what they had available to do. That’s kind of crazy to think about.

There’s one more thing I should touch on, but I need to mention that this is really shoe-horned and forced. There’s another part of this because there was an aspect of this deal that was of no major value but is still linked through this player. So, let’s jump into that. If you would like to discount this because it was not a major piece in this deal, I understand, but I thought I should show this anyway.

The Forced Link

Do you remember where I said that Steven Delisle was someone that never troubled the NHL? That was true, but he was actually dealt back to Columbus, in a different deal so I’m going to disclose this all here. As I mentioned on the previous slide, this is forced and if you do not want to view this as part of the trade tree, I understand.

See, Delisl is involved here, but it’s kind of forced. But anyway, let’s move on with this deal.

Derek Dorsett was only in New York for 51 games but he scored 4 goals and tallied 2 assists during his brief stay. His stay in New York was so slow that when he ordered his coffee after arriving from Columbus, it was still hot when he was dealt out to Vancouver later in the year for a 3rd round pick in 2014. It was used on Keegan Iverson, who never really got off the ground as a prospect.

Obviously, I think we all know the Derick Brassard story. He was a fine New York Ranger, but the Senators thought they could get more out of him and they had a Swedish center that was underperforming that they wanted to get rid of. Brassard and a 7th that became Luke Loheit went to Ottawa, and the Rangers got back Mika Zibanejad and a 2018 2nd that became Jonatan Berggren.

That 2018 2nd was sent to Detroit in the deal that allowed the Rangers to acquire Brendan Smith. See, you cannot avoid some of the more recent Rangers appearing on here that all link back to this Rick Nash trade. Smith left in free agency and signed in Carolina so that branch is done. But you may have noticed I skipped over John Moore because his branch ties into something so long and obscure it’s going to get ridiculous.

The Distant John Moore Branch

So, we’re still kicking this can down the road, and this is about to get really difficult to follow. So, the only branch on the Rangers side we have not exhausted is the John Moore Branch that came from the second trade with the Blue Jackets. This is where it becomes somewhat messy because Moore is actually about to become part of the Mark Messier trade tree from 2004. If you read the piece I did on it you may remember, but let’s follow this anyway.

For those interested, the 2016 1st became Dennis Cholowiski, and the 2015 2nd became Oliver Kylington. Neither of which is relevant here, but it’s the middle of the summer so the Rangers cannot cause you any pain on the ice right now so allow me to rub some salt into those gaping wounds from the postseason.

Let’s start with the 2016 4th rounder the Rangers got back from Arizona. The Blueshirts used it to pick Tarmo Reunanen. A defenseman that never quite made the big leagues and is now back in Finland. However, he was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes at the AHL deadline in the season before last for Maxim Letunov.

Yandle himself was actually a really good Ranger. He obviously held the NHL record for the longest amount of games played consecutively before that was broken by Phil Kessel this past season. Otherwise known as the NHL’s Iron Man streak, he played in almost 1000 consecutive NHL games for multiple different teams in his career. He would be sent to Florida for a 2017 4th and a 2016 6th. That 4th became Scott Reedy while the 6th became Tyler Wall.

However, Reedy was not drafted by the Rangers. That pick was traded for a 2017 4th and a 2017 6th. The 2017 4th became Brandon Crawley who was just a miss. The 6th became Morgan Barron however, and if you remember the 2022 NHL trade deadline, you know there is another massive deal involved here that I have to get to here.

This 2022 2nd is actually the one that the Rangers got from the Buchnevich trade that I mentioned earlier so that is where Elias Salomonsson ended up. This 2022 1st became Brad Lambert for anyone that wants pain, and the 5th was used by the Jets to select Thomas Milic. If anything becomes of Milic, that’s just great scouting by the Jets but the other two are more directly responsible.

This isn’t because Copp was a bad player for the Rangers, he was a big part of the Rangers playoff success a few seasons ago as they defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Carolina Hurricanes. Even when the Rangers were giving the Tampa Bay Lightning everything they could handle, the Rangers were still seeing the best of Andrew Copp and it turned out to be a smart pick-up.

That 2023 6th was used by the Rangers to select Dylan Roobroeck at this most recent draft about a month ago. So, there is another part of the Rangers organization that can trace its roots back to the Rick Nash deal all those years ago. It might be a kind of forced link between the two, but it is still quite cool to think about.

Overall

Well, we’re at the end. K’Andre Miller, Ryan Lindgren, Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin, Tyler Motte, Vladimir Tarasenko, Niko Mikkola, and so many more were involved in this. As well as some great soldiers like Ryan Strome, Pavel Buchnevich, and Derick Brassard. Some of the recent deadline acquisitions like Copp can be linked back to this one trade.

It just goes to show you for all of those people that did not like the Nash trade when it was made of the deal that shipped him out to Boston that you need to look at where things lead before you can evaluate. This deal is responsible for a third of the blueline directly, two of the key forwards indirectly, and played a part in the recent trade deadline additions that Drury has made.

Overall, this trade tree is a resounding success for the New York Rangers at the moment, and with the likes of K’Andre Miller, Ryan Lindgren, and Mika Zibanejad still, on this roster and valuable members of the NHL, there will be chances for the Rangers to grow this even more branches and continue to impact the way the Rangers operate.

A trade from more than a decade ago is shaping the New York Rangers franchise. Rick Nash had more than 500 points for this franchise, and his biggest impact on this organization may be his arrival and departure and the assets the Rangers were able to acquire with him. Whether they were able to hit in the draft or find value where others didn’t in a deal, this seems like a resounding win for the Rangers.