Veteran Rick Nash, formerly of the New York Rangers, announced his retirement from the NHL on Friday morning due to concussion issues.
Former New York Rangers‘ forward Rick Nash announced his retirement from the Boston Bruins and the NHL on Friday after 15 seasons due to concussion issues.
In a statement released by the agency that represents Nash — Top Shelf Hockey — the forward was forced to retire due to “unresolved issues/symptoms from the concussion sustained last March.” Nash was injured while playing for the Boston Bruins following his trade from the Rangers last season.
Statement on behalf of client Rick Nash: pic.twitter.com/DekEvhSevy
— Top Shelf Sports Management Inc. (@Topshelf_TSSM) January 11, 2019
The statement goes on say that under the advice of his medical team, the risk of further brain injury is far too great if Nash returned to play.
Nash was the first overall pick of the 2004 NHL Draft for the Columbus Blue Jackets.
His career with the Rangers began when he was traded to New York by Columbus with Steven Delisle and Columbus’ third-round pick in the 2013 NHL Draft (Pavel Buchnevich) for Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, Tim Erixon and the Rangers’ first-round pick in that very same draft (Kerby Rychel).
He wore the Rangers sweater for six seasons while in New York. In that time he played in 375 games scoring 145 goals while dishing out 107 assists for 252 points. He was on the team that surprised the NHL world as they went to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2014, losing to the Los Angeles Kings in five games.
1060 games played…
437 goals…
368 assists…
805 points…
And most importantly, as fine a gentleman as we have known…
Thank you Rick, for six great years with #NYR and a tremendous @NHL Career. pic.twitter.com/aaKozF6OT3— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) January 11, 2019
When the Rangers announced the rebuilding plans last February, Rangers fans said goodbye to “Nasher” as he was traded to the Boston Bruins. Nash was dealt for a package that included Ryan Spooner, Matt Beleskey, Ryan Lindgren and Boston’s first-round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft.
His career numbers were outstanding as he recorded 805 points (437 goals, 368 assists) in 1,060 NHL games with the Bruins, Rangers, and Blue Jackets.
Nash scored 30 goals in a season eight times and still holds records for Columbus in games played (674), goals (289), assists (258) and points (547).
