In the early years of the NHL's post-lockout era, New York Rangers general manager Glen Sather drew the ire of Blueshirts fans with a series of big money contracts for players who never panned out on Broadway. He signed Scott Gomez for seven years and $51.5 million, only to discover that the former New Jersey Devils star had left much of his game on the other side of the Hudson River. He signed Chris Drury for $7 million per year, only to realize that while every great NHL team has a player like Chris Drury, no great NHL team is built around a player like Chris Drury. He topped those two signings by getting Wade Redden for six years and $39 million, and the best thing that can be said about that deal is that the former All-Star has earned most of that money in the AHL, serving as a mentor to up-and-coming Rangers prospect.
In recent years, however, Sather has redeemed himself with a number of smart trades, including the deal that sent Scott Gomez to Montreal for a package that included emerging stud defenseman Ryan McDonagh and a subsequent deal that brought Brandon Prust to the Rangers along with Olli Jokinen for Chris Higgins and Alex Kotalik. The coup de grace, however, may have come on Monday, when the Rangers finally pulled the trigger on a deal for Columbus Blue Jackets winger Rick Nash.
The Rangers have been linked to Nash since February, when there was rampant speculation that the Blueshirts would acquire Nash as the final piece of a Stanley Cup puzzle. That wound up not happening, and after the Rangers' playoff run stalled out in the Eastern Conference finals against the Devils, the Rangers revisited the possibility of acquiring Nash. As talks with the Blue Jackets went on, Rangers fans were fearful that the Rangers would trade one of their emerging young stars - defined for these purposes as center Derek Stepan, defenseman Ryan McDonagh and winger Chris Kreider - and mortgage the future for the present in an effort to acquire Nash.
While Nash is indeed a newly minted New York Ranger, Blueshirt fans' fears have been for naught.
While the assets that the Rangers gave up for Nash were significant - as they should be when dealing for one of only five NHL players to score 30 goals in each of the last five seasons - the losses are more than acceptable for a Blueshirts team that was in desperate need of more scoring.
Brandon Dubinsky has been a valuable contributor over the past five seasons, but his greatest value has been as a complementary player for a star winger, as in his rookie year when he centered Jaromir Jagr and won the team's Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award. He signed a four-year contract worth $16.8 million last summer and proceeded to have his worst season as a pro. That's not to say that he won't bounce back and be an excellent player for the Blue Jackets, but he was definitely expendable in the effort to acquire Nash, as was Artem Anisimov, a very good center who's found success alongside Marian Gaborik at times, but has never been the kind of player who's untouchable in trade talks.
The most significant piece in the trade may be defenseman Tim Erixon, ranked by The Hockey News as the Rangers' top prospect in the magazine's "Future Watch" issue. Erixon is a smart puck-moving defenseman who is just beginning to show his potential at age 21, and should be an excellent addition to a Columbus blueline corps that already includes James Wisniewski, Jack Johnson and Fedor Tyutin. Even there, though, the Rangers were dealing from strength, as the quartet of Marc Staal, Dan Girardi, Michael Del Zotto and McDonagh have emerged as a rock solid top four, and Girardi is the oldest at 27.
What the Rangers have now is a lineup that is built to contend for the Stanley Cup, even as the Philadelphia Flyers have put themselves in position to improve with the potential acquisition of Shea Weber and the Pittsburgh Penguins have solidified their lineup with a long-term deal for Sidney Crosby. Nash joins Brad Richards and Marian Gaborik as top offensive talents, and his presence will help the Rangers weather the loss of Gaborik for the early portions of the season as he rehabs his injured shoulder. Ryan Callahan remains in place as the heart and soul of the team and an outstanding two-way player coming off a career-best 29 goals and 54 points, with young forwards like Kreider, Stepan and Carl Hagelin filling out the Rangers' scoring lines. The aforementioned quartet of Staal, Girardi, Del Zotto and McDonagh remains intact on the blueline, standing guard in front of reigning Vezina Trophy winner Henrik Lundqvist. The Rangers even have the remaining salary cap space to add Phoenix Coyotes winger Shane Doan, should he decide to leave the Arizona desert.
Put simply, the Rangers have gotten everything they wanted, and while Scott Howson may get the blame in Columbus, the credit in New York has to go to Glen Sather.
