Nash On His Way to N.Y. Rangers in Multi-Player Deal

It has been in the works for months, and now TSN hockey analyst Darren Dreger says left winger Rick Nash has been traded from the Columbus Blue Jackets to the New York Rangers for forwards Artem Anisimov and Brandon Dubinsky, defenceman Tim Erixon and a first-round draft pick. According to Dreger, the Blue Jackets also included minor-league defenceman Steven Delisle and a conditional third-round pick — which will revert back to Columbus if the Rangers make it to the Stanley Cup final.

Dreger is believed to be the first to break the news of the trade, revealing the details on his Twitter feed. At the time this story was posted, the deal awaited a trade call from the Blue Jackets to make it official.

Nash, the captain of the Columbus team, scored 30 goals and 59 total points in 82 regular-season games last season. He was selected first overall by the Blue Jackets in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, and has spent his entire nine-year career with the club. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound native of Brampton, Ontario, has averaged 32 goals and 60 total points in each year of his career. He has scored 83 of his goals on the power play, with 14 short-handed tallies and 44 game-winners.

The talk of a move first surfaced at the NHL trade deadline when Nash himself publicly stated he would agree to a deal if “it helped rebuild the team.” At the time, he said he wasn’t sure what to expect. “I’ve been with these fans my whole career here. I love them no matter what. They’re a great fan base, loyal. They’ve been patient with this organization and with this team. No matter what the reception is I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for our fans.”

Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson reportedly turned down many offers for the highly coveted forward. The scuttlebutt surrounding a potential deal had Howson holding out for a package of players and draft picks that many teams found to be too much for them to accept. Given those rumours, immediate reaction to the trade centred around the fact that more prominent Rangers such as winger Chris Kreider and defencemen Ryan McDonagh and Michael Del Zotto were not involved in the deal.

Anisimov is 6-foot-4 and 197 pounds, and had been listed on the Rangers’ depth chart as their second-line centre. He scored 16 goals and 36 points in 79 regular-season games last season. Dubinsky is a centre/winger known for his aggressive style of play. The 6-foot-1, 210-pound forward tallied 10 goals in 2011-12, which was a considerable dropoff from 24 goals the previous season and 20 in the season before that. Dubinsky knows where the penalty box is, totalling 210 minutes in the sin bin the past two campaigns. Erixon is a 6-foot-2 190-pound defenceman who has a total of 18 games of big-league experience.