First, the list only included 18 teams. Now, the New York Rangers officially have the green light to trade Rick Nash to any of the 18 NHL organizations on his submitted list.
New York Rangers forward Rick Nash provided the organization a list of 18 teams he does not want to be traded to as was tweeted by TSN’s Bob McKenzie.
NYR have requested Rick Nash’s No-Trade list and Nash gave it to the club yesterday. The list is 18 teams Nash cannot be traded to (unless he were to waive his NTC). Conversely, NYR now have the green light to trade Nash to the 12 teams not on the list.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) February 5, 2018
Nash, 33, is in the final year of an eight-year $62.4 million contract and is making $7.8 million this year. He will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season.
The list Nash provided will now allow the Rangers to negotiate with the other 12 teams in the league. This gives the Rangers three weeks to see if there is a team that is interested.
Nash was acquired by the Rangers in a trade with Columbus on Jul. 23, 2012, along with Steven Delisle and the Blue Jackets third-round pick (Pavel Buchnevich) in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft for Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, Tim Erixon and the Rangers’ first-round pick (Kerby Rychel) in 2013 NHL Draft.
Nash has played for six years with the Rangers. He has appeared in 367 games scoring 142 goals with 107 assists for 249 points. Though he hasn’t been the goal scorer the Rangers have hoped for when they traded for him, Nash has enjoyed a successful run with the team. He now plays a hard-nosed two-way game now, extremely different from the offensive scorer he was when playing in Columbus. His best season for the Rangers was the 2014-15 season that saw him 42 goals, 69 points in total.
With the Rangers struggling so much this season and the status of Nash becoming a UFA, this move in not surprising. The Rangers can at least get a high draft pick and/or a player to join the team now as the Rangers believe Nash will have value to a team in the playoff hunt.
