Rick Nash “Sweepstakes”

I hate using the term “sweepstakes”. Mainly because the first time I saw that in regards to a trade was on HockeyBuzz with Eklund discussing the Matt Niskanen (or some equally irrelevant NHL player) sweepstakes.

Ugh…what a horrible time in my life.

Now, Rick Nash.

The guys on HNIC’s Satellite Hot-Stove were talking about potential destinations for Rick Nash. Let’s address them.

1. Philadelphia Flyers. This makes no sense at all. While the Flyers might covet Rick Nash, and he would be magical alongside Claude Giroux, the Flyers have absolutely no cap space to wiggle within. According to capgeek.com (from hereon, all numbers come from there), the Flyers can afford to pick up a contract of $521,232 at the deadline. Nash’s $7.8M cap hit would clearly not fit there, so the flyers would have to move some contracts. I would suggest the Flyers simply cannot afford to add Rick Nash without gutting their roster, something they should be reluctant to do.
2. Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks seem like a good trade partner for the Blue Jackets when you start looking at assets. Columbus needs a goalie, Vancouver has a budding young star sitting on the bench. They have some good quality youngsters in Cody Hodgson and Chris Tanev, and I’m sure the Blue Jackets would love to add those 2 alongside Cory Schneider. Alas, the salary cap leaves the Canucks with even less space than the Flyers. They already have 4 forwards locked up at more than $4.25M until the end of the 2013-14 season. I doubt they’d want to add another, and couldn’t afford to for this season without shipping one of them out. The Canucks seem to be built at least partially on chemistry, and I can’t believe that anyone would want to rock that chemistry as the playoffs approach.
3. Toronto Maple Leafs. I would love to see this happen, but it just doesn’t make a lot of sense. The Leafs most valuable asset going into the trade deadline is probably Mikhail Grabovski, an impending free agent who appears to want to stay in Toronto. They don’t have the prospect depth or quality to add Rick Nash, and should be reluctant to do so if it means subtracting quality contributors from a playoff-chasing roster. If a deal were to happen, I assume it would look something like Grabovski (with a contract extension), Jake Gardiner, Nazem Kadri, and Ben Scrivens. Having said that, the Leafs need the same thing that the Blue Jackets are looking for: help in goal and defensive strength. These are not easy to come by, and leaves these 2 teams as a somewhat poor fit.
4. Los Angeles Kings. The Kings are the perfect fit for Nash. They need some offensive punch, they have a superstar-goalie-in-waiting that they can use as a swappable asset, and they want to win. The problem here is that the Kings are built with a franchise player in goal, on defense, and up-front. If you bring in Rick Nash, he suddenly takes the “highest paid” seat away from Drew Doughty, something that Doughty fought hard to steal from Anze Kopitar. Looking into the future, Kopitar, Doughty, and Mike Richards are locked up until at least the end of the 2015-16 season. The wildcard is Jonathan Quick, who becomes an unrestricted free agent after next season. Now, most hockey minds will say that the Kings need to sign Quick to a long-term extension before worrying about Rick Nash. If I were making the decisions in Los Angeles, I would make a play for Rick Nash that would see Quick head to Columbus. I would install Jonathan Bernier (under team control for at least 2 more seasons after this one) as the starting goaltender, and roll the dice with that roster for the next couple of seasons.

I’m going to throw a 5th team into the mix. The Nashville Predators. I know finances are tight in Nashville, but they have all the makings of a Stanley Cup winning team…except a superstar forward. If you bring in Rick Nash, that sends a strong message to Shea Weber and Ryan Suter that you are committed to winning. There’s a top-flight NHL goaltender in Pekka Rinne, and a team that seems ready to make a push in the playoffs.