Nash describes his playoff performance as "Good"

[Crease]

From The Record today.

The season ended just like every other one since 1994, with the Rangers' players on breakup day putting into words the disappointment of not going further.

But among all the predictable words came some that stood out as troubling.

First, Rick Nash, the sharpshooting power forward brought to the Rangers this season from Columbus to provide offense, rated his playoff performance as "good" after finishing with one goal and four assists in 12 postseason games.

Nash, 28, led the Rangers with 21 goals and added 21 assists in the lockout-shortened 48-game season. But his only prior NHL postseason experience came in 2009 as he scored a goal and added two assists as the Blue Jackets were swept in the first round.

Nash has to know that even if he's getting chances, which he was, he can't say what he did in the playoffs was "good." More was needed from him to elevate his linemates and the team.

"I thought we had a good enough team to go all the way," Nash said. "If you look at all the teams that won championships, they had those stretches where they were consistent every single night and, to a guy, we just weren't consistent enough."

Full article here.

Hard to agree with Nash's self-review here.

Click to read more...

 

[Trxjw]

It's like Gross said in the article. He was getting chances and making plays, but unless those translate into tangible numbers, you can't say it was "good". Really disappointed that Nash feels that way about his performance.

 

[Dr. Ogrodnick]

Well, clearly he's not going to learn from it and we can expect another "good" 1 goal performance in next year's playoffs.

 

[Crease]

Well, clearly he's not going to learn from it and we can expect another "good" 1 goal performance in next year's playoffs.

Too early to say that he won't find that next gear but his mindset isn't exactly enthralling. You want your star players, hell every player, to have a bulldog mentality.

 

[Kakko]

I thought he played pretty good. He wa almost always double teamed, leaving teammates open for a pass, which he should have taken advantage of. Not to mention the fact that it's hard to find a moment where the guy didn't have a stick around his waist

 

[Dr. Ogrodnick]

Too early to say that he won't find that next gear but his mindset isn't exactly enthralling. You want your star players, hell every player, to have a bulldog mentality.

He'll never find it if he believes he's already there.

 

[OverTheCap]

The playoffs are a totally different beast than regular season hockey or international tournaments. He needs to make some adjustments to his game for the playoffs, i.e., less stickhandling and trying to split the defense, more dogged pursuit of the puck, etc. But if Nash thinks his performance was good than I fear these adjustments will not be made.

 

[beastly115]

This is the guy were building our team around. The guy who thinks he played good and only scored 1 goal in 12 games. I have lost all confidence in him.

We won't be going anywhere with him as our go to guy. He has no idea how to accurately self assess himself.

 

[Miz]

He wasn't bad, but wasn't great either. How else would you expect someone to answer that question? Too much crying on this board over petty comments like this one

 

[Kel Varnsen]

I thought he played pretty good. He wa almost always double teamed, leaving teammates open for a pass, which he should have taken advantage of. Not to mention the fact that it's hard to find a moment where the guy didn't have a stick around his waist

For a group that likes to kill their own team at every turn I find the constant excusing of Nash's god awful performance astounding. Between this kind of crap and the baseless injury speculation stemming from only the fan base's own refusal to accept that Nash was simply figuratively choking, it's just counter to what you'd expect based on the vitriol aimed at anyone else who under-performs.

 

[Rogie]

I clicked on the link and in the article Nash does not evaluate his play; there is no quote of Nash in the article at all. There is just the writer saying that Nash said he was good, with the word good in quotes.

 

[ItsthatSimple]

Rick Nash and Kreider...nuff said

 

[Clown Fiesta]

Players don't assess themselves purely by their stat line. They also don't micro analyze to the media, what's he going to say he was horrible? Just because Boyle did?Maybe Boyle should nut up and quit moping around. See how you can overstate pretty much anything?

Gross didn't mention him saying that he "wants more and is motivated to go deeper" either. More sensationalist journalism for you to make mountains out of.

 

[Bluenote13]

People expect too much from Rick Nash, but he should expect more from himself.

And yeah, he never says he was good, but of course what does that matter, a pro writer wrote it, must be meaningful.

 

[Richter Scale]

I clicked on the link and in the article Nash does not evaluate his play; there is no quote of Nash in the article at all. There is just the writer saying that Nash said he was good, with the word good in quotes.

I don't know how you wanted the writer to present that information... Nash was asked a straight forward question along the lines of "How would you rate your playoff performance?" He answered with one word: "Good." The reporter asked again (presumably because he either didn't hear the answer or thought Nash might not have heard the question correctly). Nash again answered with one word: "Good."

 

[Bluenote13]

It's obvious when some players and the coach in this instance are trying not to have a defeatist attitude. 'We took a side step this year'. Okay, whatever you want to call it, its over now, and wallowing in defeat is no way to go forward. I can understand that, why can't you?

Again, trying to make something out of nothing, this happens every off season.

 

[BavelPure]

If it wasn't for Richards completely overshadowing Nash's non production this probably would have been more of an issue. His style didn't look like it translated in the post season. Maybe a different approach with him on the ice would at least garner him some helpers.

 

[Richter Scale]

Players don't assess themselves purely by their stat line. They also don't micro analyze to the media, what's he going to say he was horrible? Just because Boyle did?Maybe Boyle should nut up and quit moping around. See how you can overstate pretty much anything?

Gross didn't mention him saying that he "wants more and is motivated to go deeper" either. More sensationalist journalism for you to make mountains out of.

I agree with you that more is being made of that quote than I think needs to be made of it. And in context with everything else he said, I'm not sure it is all that awful, or means he is a loser/needs to be traded/etc. Ridiculous hyperbole going on in that other thread.

But I don't think it is out of line to look at that quote and think that there is a problem there if Nash thinks that he did everything he could have in the playoffs and didn't need to be better for himself or his team. I don't think Nash was bad by any means; but he certainly needed to be better in the playoffs than he was.

Saying you want to go further or that you think your team is good enough to go further is nice and good. But just saying you want it doesn't really give a good sense of the player's mentality, drive, or killer instinct. Evaluating your own sub-par performance as "good"/adequate/whatever you want to take away from his one word self-evaluation, on the other hand, may raise some red flags.

I get what you're trying to do with the Boyle comparison you make, but imo, it is a weak one. It is a lot harder - especially when you've been (and may be) on the chopping block like Boyle - to look at yourself and say you weren't good and need to be better. Boyle wasn't moping. He said he was bad (which he was during the regular season), owning it, saying for him to be effective he probably needs to work harder than everyone else, and explained that he was going to do that. As far as I remember, Nash did none of that; therein lies the difference. A lot easier to decide not to say that you have to work harder or do better than to own that, for whatever reason, you maybe didn't do everything you could have for your team.

Jonathan Toews has also been having a rough playoffs in terms of point production (1 goal in 11 games). He hasn't actually been all that bad. But has he been telling the press that he is playing "good"? No. He has owned it and said he needs to be better. That is what a professional does who knows he can be - and needs to be - better. It is about holding yourself to a higher standard and holding yourself accountable when you don't meet that standard.

All of that said, it was still just his first real postseason in which his team had any sort of shot at being a contender; so personally, I'm not terribly worried. Just hoping he learned something from the experience.

 

[NikC]

Critics killed Hossa for years for his drop in play from the regular season to the playoffs, but eventually he got acclimated and became and excellent playoff performer.

This is Nash's 2nd playoff appearance in his career. Nash was set up to be our only "go to" guy again in the post season. You know how that usually turns out....

So instead of killing him and requesting him to be traded because he didn't immediately score big goals in his first year with us, show some patience.

 

[Doctor King Schultz]

All of that said, it was still just his first real postseason in which his team had any sort of shot at being a contender; so personally, I'm not terribly worried. Just hoping he learned something from the experience.

We could have only hoped he would turn it on like Brassard did with it being Brassard's first post season. To be fair, Brassard wasn't as good in the 2nd round where Nash started to show up a little more.

Watching other teams in the playoffs you feel like you are watching teams that are trying hard to win a championship. I just did not get that feeling from the Rangers aside from Hank and a few other players. Did not get that feeling from Nash though.

 

[Gardner McKay]

Critics killed Hossa for years for his drop in play from the regular season to the playoffs, but eventually he got acclimated and became and excellent playoff performer.

This is Nash's 2nd playoff appearance in his career. Nash was set up to be our only "go to" guy again in the post season. You know how that usually turns out....

So instead of killing him and requesting him to be traded because he didn't immediately score big goals in his first year with us, show some patience.

Thank you for common sense. With that being said I expect a better performance from Nash next year should we make the post season.

 

[LORDE]

It's obvious when some players and the coach in this instance are trying not to have a defeatist attitude. 'We took a side step this year'. Okay, whatever you want to call it, its over now, and wallowing in defeat is no way to go forward. I can understand that, why can't you?

Again, trying to make something out of nothing, this happens every off season.

Everyone wanted to hear him say "I wasn't good enough" or "I need to be better" and then this is a non-story.

He didn't.

What does that mean? Probably not a hell of a lot... but it is what it is.

Just like Hank saying "I'll speak to my agent" instead of "I love the NYR... I love playing in NY city... I'm not going anywhere until we win a damn CUP!"

It is what it is and writers will jump all over it to sell papers/page views.

 

[Ola]

From The Record today.

Full article here.

Hard to agree with Nash's self-review here.

This is discussed over and over again in the break up day thread...

 

[Cake or Death]

To anyone who watched the interview, it was a pretty snap answer. He was asked to rate his performance and said, "Good," then was immediately asked if he was playing hurt and said, "No." I wouldn't read a lot into it, if almost anything. For anyone interested, here are all of Nash's responses during the interview:

We didn't accomplish our main goal and didn't get as far as we wanted to. It's frustrating. I think we have a good enough team to go all the way. It's a tight knit group. And I think that's the thing that hurts the most.

If you look at all teams that have won championships, they've had those stretches where they're consistent each and every night. To a guy, we weren't consistent enough.

I don't think it (the lack of training camp) had too much of an affect. But I think the start wasn't good enough for us, we put ourselves in a hole early on in the season. we climbed out of it pretty good, but we have to have better starts.

I had one of the most fun seasons of my career, by far. I love being a Ranger, I love playing for this organization, for this city, for these fans, and I hope it keeps getting better, 'cause I had a great time.

It's tough. I think I learned you've got to be consistent every night. You've got to play your best. The stakes are that much higher and emotions are that much higher.

I think I got a better taste of it this year, and it just makes me want more, to go further, deeper in the playoffs. I had so much fun with it. There's so much excitement when the games mean that much. I can't wait to try to go again.

Good (on rating his performance). No (on was he playing through any injuries).

Any time you start a season you want to win a championship. The season was disappointing. We didn't get to our goal. I'll think about it for a while, for a lot of the summer. But there's a lot of positives that came out of it for my career. Being here and playing in New York, like I said earlier I loved every minute of it.

 

[Bluenote13]

Everyone wanted to hear him say "I wasn't good enough" or "I need to be better" and then this is a non-story.

He didn't.

What does that mean? Probably not a hell of a lot... but it is what it is.

Just like Hank saying "I'll speak to my agent" instead of "I love the NYR... I love playing in NY city... I'm not going anywhere until we win a damn CUP!"

It is what it is and writers will jump all over it to sell papers/page views.

Not me.

Then again, he does say they need to be better, you just didn't like how he delivered the message. Semantics.

NY fans will always look for one player, coach or in this case one interview and release all their misguided anger.