Nash rumors

(because, hey, everyone else is doing it)

So, the accepted wisdom thus far has been, as it was back around Trade Deadline Day, that Scott Howson's asking price for Rick Nash is far too high for Glen Sather to be able to pay it, requiring at least one of McDonagh, Stepan, and Kreider, all of whom Slats considers untouchable. And so everyone's been waiting for one of the two to change his mind on that, while both are kinda desperate to make a deal (the Rangers need that kind of big scoring presence up front; the Jackets need lots of pieces and are terrible and Nash wants out).

But then today a Blue Jackets beat writer tweeted that the Blue Jackets were willing to accept a package that does not include those three guys. Which doesn't jive at all with what we've been hearing, and which prompted Darren Dreger to respond that Howson "should let the NYR know that."

So, in conclusion, there are conflicting reports about which GMs want what for whom in the off-season. Weird, right?

Oh, and Ranger fans: I'm putting this on the table now. Rick Nash is very good at hockey. You need to give up value to get value. You can't pull off Gomez/Pyatt/Busto for Higgins/McDonagh/Valentenko every time. Just keep that in mind, is all.