For the second time in four months, the Rangers are engaged in a high-speed pursuit of Rick Nash, sources have confirmed.
Just as was the case during the chase leading up to the Feb. 27 trade deadline, general manager Glen Sather remains unconcerned about the cap implications of the Columbus winger’s contract that runs through 2017-18 at an annual $7.8 million charge that is exceeded in the NHL by only Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Eric Staal.
Rather, the GM is more apprehensive about the Rangers’ lack of offense during the playoffs, in which the team was limited by Ottawa, Washington and New Jersey netminders to two goals or fewer in 15 of 20 games and could score as many as four only once, that in the opening game of the first round.
The question now, as it was in late February — when Columbus GM Scott Howson got greedy and demanded a combination of players including Chris Kreider; Derek Stepan or Carl Hagelin; Ryan McDonagh or Michael Del Zotto; plus Brandon Dubinsky and a first-rounder — is what the Jackets will be willing to accept and how much Sather will be willing to yield in return for the 28-year-old winger, whose numbers on the ice have never quite matched the hype attached to him.
The question within that question is how much Nash, whose average season yields 35 goals and 31 assists, has been weighed down trying to carry an inferior franchise through the entirety of a nine-year NHL career in which his team has made the playoffs once, only to be swept?
Up to a half-dozen teams — including Philadelphia, San Jose, Carolina, perhaps Toronto and perhaps Boston — are in the race, but the Rangers could end the derby in a heartbeat by agreeing to send Kreider to Columbus. There is less chance of that occurring than of Sean Avery returning to the team as an assistant coach.
The Won’t Miss Kid from Boston College is a negotiation stopper. So is McDonagh. So, almost certainly, is Stepan.
Dubinsky (and his $4.2 million cap hit) has to go the other way. The immediate unknowns are whether Sather would yield on Hagelin or Artem Anisimov; whether Del Zotto would be made available even if the Blueshirts aren’t able to sign Justin Schultz, the Wisconsin defenseman who can become a free agent next week; whether Dylan McIlrath or J.T. Miller is on the table.
Howson will attempt to create an open bazaar leading up to Friday’s first-round of the Entry Draft in Pittsburgh. But it is possible the auction could bleed into July, past the opening days of free agency, when Zach Parise and Ryan Suter declare and Schultz signs.
Future moves would be restricted in taking on this contract commitment to Nash, but even more so with a new collective bargaining agreement under which cap likely is to be recalculated and regulations likely are to be restrictively redefined (e.g., terms limits and front-loading) beginning next season.
Del Zotto will become a restricted free agent on July 1. McDonagh, Stepan, Anisimov and Hagelin will become restricted free agents next summer. Then, after two more seasons, Henrik Lundqvist, Ryan Callahan, Dan Girardi (and Marian Gaborik) are eligible to become unrestricted free agents while Kreider will be restricted.
Does Sather interpret all this as a window closing after two years, thus prompting him to make a bold move now, the way Los Angeles GM Dean Lombardi did in acquiring Jeff Carter’s strangling contract a few days before the deadline? It’s impossible to know at this moment. But aAs long as Howson is willing to accept a package that does not include Kreider, McDonagh or Stepan, Sather’s siren will be sounding through the nights in this high-speed pursuit of Nash.
* Alexander Radulov is believed on his way back to the KHL in light of an offer from Sergei Fedorov’s CSKA club that considering tax implications, we’re told, would make him the world’s highest-paid hockey player.
The regret regarding the Stanley Cup Finals is Ilya Kovalchuk’s back injury deprived the Devils of the club’s most singular, dynamic weapon against the Kings. It’s not as if the Devils are unique in dealing with a significant injury to a significant player. The Canucks had to deal with issues that eliminated Ryan Kesler as a factor in the 2011 defeat to the Bruins.
It’s just unfortunate that, if for nothing else but the sake of entertainment value, the most explosive and compelling player on either side was so diminished.
Rangers’ prospect Jesper Fast will be attending the club’s development camp following the Entry Draft, but the 20-year-old winger is contractually committed to playing the 2012-13 season for HV-71 of the Swedish Elite League.
* This just in: Hugh Jessiman told Slap Shots he won’t even consider signing with the Devils this summer.