OK, Fine, Let's Talk about Rick Nash

I was gonna do a post about how everyone needs to stop saying Brad Richards needs to "find another gear" or whatever they say, and how just like Marian Gaborik last season, he's learning a new system, and he's actually really, really valuable to this team right now, et cetera. But no one is shutting up about Rick Nash! So let's talk about Rick Nash instead.

As I may have mentioned in this space before, Rick Nash is one of my hockey crushes (others include Dustin Byfuglien and Brooks Orpik). These are the kinds of guys I covet: not necessarily superstars in their own right, but solid guys I'd love to see in Ranger colors. At the same time, right now, I'm finding it easy to side with the Garden Faithful, who erupted with "We don't want you!" when Nash knotted the contest late in the 3rd the other night (related: I fucking love Ranger fans).

But why? Why are Ranger fans, possibly including myself, so opposed to bringing in a hard-working, world-class talent like Nash? A few reasons. Some are dumb. Let's talk about it. At length.

First of all, I come to bury Nash, not to praise him. Which is to say: I have no interest in convincing you that Rick Nash is a really good hockey player. He is; go watch some CBJ games until you agree. I'm taking it as a given that Nash is a very valuable asset. #DealWithIt

Look, I made a Twitter joke! My finger is on the pulse of the Internet Generation!

When getting angry about a trade, especially one that hasn't actually happened yet, the easiest thing to point at is what your team (fictionally) gave up. In this case, the rumored asking price is Dubinsky, DelZ or McD, Kreider, and a top pick or prospect. Allow me to blaspheme for a bit, here, Ranger fans. That's probably worth it.

Look, I know. We've been burned before. We're Ranger fans. We watched a decade of trading away the club's future for bullshit free agents that didn't work out. Petr Nedved, Theoren Fleury, Eric Lindros, I get it. We're naturally afraid of getting rid of home-grown guys to win superstars, because they come to New York and buckle, or are revealed to have sucked the whole time, or whatever. I get it. But look. The one guy on that list not worth giving up is Ryan McDonagh (the one guy on that list who wasn't a Rangers draft pick, by the way).

Kreider and a pick are possibilities. Kreider looks great right now, coming off of his success in the Beanpot Thingy. But you never know. Even a first-round pick, while it could turn out to be Rick Nash, also could turn out to be Riley Nash. You know I defend Del Zotto a lot these days. He's come back as a completely different player, and he's a big part of the reason the Rangers' defensive corps is so strong. But would I lose him for Rick Nash? Yes, yes I would. And I, like all of you, remember when Brandon Dubinsky was mentioned in the same breath as Ryan Callahan. But let's be honest: there is no longer any such breath.

Academically, I would definitely lose Dubinsky, Del Zotto, and 2 prospects for Rick Nash. Absolutely. Don't be concerned about losing the value those guys have on the ice, compared to the value Rick Nash has. But maybe a more valid concern? Losing the team chemistry. Or, in this case, maybe I should say "alchemy."

Puck Daddy adds it as kind of an afterthought in his piece about the Nash-to-the-Rangers thing, but it shouldn't be discounted. Everyone describes this year's Rangers as more than the sum of their parts. They talk about the Band of Brothers mentality, everyone blocking shots for everyone else, and so on. It's all about the unit.

So how does the unit change when you lose a couple of the guys who have been part of its makeup since the new Sergeant came to town? Dubinsky is the exemplar here: he hasn't actually been producing much, and he's been rightly relegated to the fourth line for much of the season, but he's still a very strong part of that ethereal key to success: the Rangers' Identity.

As a rational person, it is easy to see most of this as bullshit. If you can give up worse players for better players, you probably want to do it. Dubinsky for Nash sounds kinda awesome. But is it worth taking that kind of risk on a team that really seems to have its shit together? I'm not so sure.

Anyway, the real reason we shouldn't trade for Nash isn't Columbus's asking price, in terms of skill or chemistry. It's not even Nash's cap hit: he's only worth $2.5 million more than the current combination of Dubinsky and Del Zotto, money that is easily covered by, say, doing something about Wojtek Wolski. Remember Wojtek Wolski? No? He's that guy that is eating $3.8 million of cap space to not play hockey for us. Not ringing any bells? Don't worry about it, he won't be a factor much longer.

No, the real reason is Nash's futurecap hit, because everybody gets a raise by next summer. Let's take a look:
Derek Stepan - $875,000; ends 2012-13
Carl Hagelin - $875,000; ends 2012-13
Brandon Prust - $800,000; ends 2011-12
John Mitchell - $650,000; ends 2011-12
Ryan McDonagh - $1,300,000; ends 2012-13
Anton Stralman - $900,000; ends 2011-12
(This all ignores Del Zotto, who we're assuming went in the trade; Sauer, because we don't know what his future will bring; and Eminger, Woywitka, and Bickel, none of whom makes more than $800,000, and all of whom are on contracts that end this summer.)

That is a lot of people the Rangers are going to want to keep on, and they're going to need to spend cap space to do it. Nash's completely reasonable $7.8 million cap hit extends through 2017-18 (like Richards's, this is a little longer than I'd like any contract to be, but is also understandable). Alchemy notwithstanding, even if a trade for Rick Nash might be a good move right now, it has some future salary cap implications that we should be concerned about.

So, should we trade for Rick Nash? I don't know! This one's actually got pretty good arguments on both sides! Fortunately for me, it's not up to me. I can just type shit about the Rangers all day, and not actually have to make decisions about them. Then, in a week, once we've gone past the trade deadline and Sather has made some hard decision, I can jump in and complain about it. My life is awesome.