What is Rick Nash's legacy as a Blueshirt?

[nyr2k2]

Also, for the record, I wish there was a poll option between 1 and 2. I don't think he fell "way" short of expectations, but he did under-perform more than just slightly. I voted for fell way short of expectation because I think that's closer to my feelings on it than the other choice.

 

[JT Kreider]

Nash was our best forward in '15 outside of probably Brassard. And there was a pretty massive difference in both play and production compared to '13 and '14 when he was dealing with concussion issues. That should probably tell you something.

Nash had 7 points in Games 4 and 6 vs Tampa. 7 points in the other 17 games. Not nearly good enough.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

The difference between regular season Brassard and "Playoff Performer" Brassard is that Brassard shot 10% over his 4 regular seasons and 15% over his 4 playoffs. Predictably that has not continued and he's only shot 5% over his last two playoff runs between OTT/PIT. Guess he's no longer a great playoff performer.

Brassard shot 13.5% in his Ranger playoff career and 12.7% for his Ranger regular season career.

 

[Unusual Suspect]

Great guy, good in the room, I'm sure. As far as I'm concerned, his ability to make the scoring contributions for which he was primarily paid had everything to do with using size, speed and skating fluidity to drive hard to the net. His response to injury was to leave that part of his game mostly behind and play perimeter hockey, and that characterized about 75% or more of his Ranger tenure. Thus 15-20 goals rather than 40. I chose "way below expectations" not because I thought he was useless, but because he was almost never the Rick Nash we believed we were trading for.

 

[JT Kreider]

Great guy, good in the room, I'm sure. As far as I'm concerned, his ability to make the scoring contributions for which he was primarily paid had everything to do with using size, speed and skating fluidity to drive hard to the net. His response to injury was to leave that part of his game mostly behind and play perimeter hockey, and that characterized about 75% or more of his Ranger tenure. Thus 15-20 goals rather than 40. I chose "way below expectations" not because I thought he was useless, but because he was almost never the Rick Nash we believed we were trading for.

Exactly. This is the Rick Nash we were expecting when we traded for him.



Too few and far between.

 

[emodwarf]

Nash was unlikely to live up to the contract he signed in Columbus, either there or here. He got overpaid to be the face of the still young and smaller market Blue Jackets franchise, which led to his AAV being that of a franchise player when he was more of an elite player at the time.

Can't blame him for signing that contract. I would, and if you say you wouldn't, then you're lying to someone or incredibly idealistic. Responsibility is more on Columbus for offering that contract, which was also understandable.

What's less understandable is the Rangers being willing to trade for Nash, thinking he'd be the star forward to put us over the top. That's not on Nash, either.

Nash consistently created scoring chances, put in the effort, and by all accounts was a good and respected teammate. His goals dropped off with age and concussions, and his lack of results during the playoffs hurt a lot. But he wasn't one to dog it out there, which is more than can be said for some other recent (and current) Rangers.

 

[McRanger]

Nash had 7 points in Games 4 and 6 vs Tampa. 7 points in the other 17 games. Not nearly good enough.

Nash has always been both ridiculously streaky and prone to scoring in bundles but how is pointing out that he scored a bunch of points in a must win game 6 in the ECF proof that he can’t score in the playoffs?

 

[JT Kreider]

Nash has always been both ridiculously streaky and prone to scoring in bundles but how is pointing out that he scored a bunch of points in a must win game 6 in the ECF proof that he can’t score in the playoffs?

In game 6 he had 3 secondary assists and scored a goal with 10 minutes left to make it 6-2.

That's his grand playoff legacy.

(I'll admit he made a great play on Brassards 2nd goal but the other two assists were pretty nonchalant)

 

[GordonGecko]

Most expensive PK specialist in NHL history

But the answer to the his legacy question is that he screwed over the Bruins for us.
Good grades for that!

 

[Machinehead]

Great guy, good in the room, I'm sure. As far as I'm concerned, his ability to make the scoring contributions for which he was primarily paid had everything to do with using size, speed and skating fluidity to drive hard to the net. His response to injury was to leave that part of his game mostly behind and play perimeter hockey, and that characterized about 75% or more of his Ranger tenure. Thus 15-20 goals rather than 40. I chose "way below expectations" not because I thought he was useless, but because he was almost never the Rick Nash we believed we were trading for.

I could list the players that shot more than Nash from <10 feet from the net on one hand.

Calling him a perimeter player is objectively wrong. In fact, he shot almost exclusively from home plate.

 

[Nickmo82]

 

[True Blue]

Can't blame him for signing that contract. I would, and if you say you wouldn't, then you're lying to someone or incredibly idealistic. Responsibility is more on Columbus for offering that contract, which was also understandable.

No one is blaming Nash for signing his contract. No one is blaming Sather for trading for the contract. What people are saying is that he was not worth the cap hit that he incurred. Translated: He did not live up to expectations of some. That is also understandable.

Nash consistently created scoring chances, put in the effort, and by all accounts was a good and respected teammate. His goals dropped off with age and concussions, and his lack of results during the playoffs hurt a lot. But he wasn't one to dog it out there, which is more than can be said for some other recent (and current) Rangers.

Also, no one is saying that he was a bad guy or that he was dogging it. Everyone understands about concussions. However, some people do not believe that his decline came solely as a result of injuries. To blame it all on the injuries is not a view that a lot can get behind. And yes, his invisibility during crunch time as his team's most important forward was crippling to his team.

This is one of the more polarizing topics that I recall around these parts. And there have been players who this board was divided about. But not quite to this extreme. I remember being incredulous when there were several posters who (and this was this past year) tried to argue that when their team needs a goal, they would rather have Nash on the ice than Ovechkin. The fact that Nash is no longer here but is still such a polarizing topic around here is amazing.

 

[SA16]

Brassard shot 13.5% in his Ranger playoff career and 12.7% for his Ranger regular season career.

5v5 only...or you're biasing it based on penalty rate and such

 

[TheTakedown]

So...no actual defense of the comment that our defense was Top 3?

Figures.

Dunno why he said it was top 3... You could argue top 15 in 2013-14 after December, but we never approached top 3 levels

 

[Filthy Dangles]

5v5 only...or you're biasing it based on penalty rate and such

That seems to exacerbate the larger issue of sample size that Nash defenders bring up in the first place. You're distilling an already small sample size into something smaller. Were penalty rates that much different in the RS vs PO?

 

[NYRFAN218]

Nash's legacy will always be that of a guy who couldn't get it done when it mattered most. I hate to beat the Kessel comparison to death but it's very apt.

Before the trade to Pittsburgh, Kessel was the butt end of every joke in hockey. Those last few seasons in Toronto absolutely destroyed his reputation around the league.

Fast forward to his dominance in the playoffs and helping the Penguins get back over the hump after bowing out in the playoffs 6 straight seasons and now Kessel is one of the most beloved and respected stars in the NHL today. The guy is a black hole of charisma but everyone loves Phil.

That's a guy who deserved his due and he earned it.

Can't say the same for Nash.

Wow, it's almost like Kessel was playing with two of the best players in the world to help shoulder the brunt of things while he slid into a more reserved role where he wasn't counted on to be the guy. I'm sure Nash would have done much better as well if he had prime Crosby and Malkin to help things up front. Instead, the top two forwards up front for the Rangers were Derick Brassard and Derek Stepan.

 

[ReggieDunlop68]

Dunno why he said it was top 3... You could argue top 15 in 2013-14 after December, but we never approached top 3 levels

Because Koko the Gorilla had a better level of reading comprehension skills than most of our posters.

She also had as many cats.

 

[JT Kreider]

Wow, it's almost like Kessel was playing with two of the best players in the world to help shoulder the brunt of things while he slid into a more reserved role where he wasn't counted on to be the guy. I'm sure Nash would have done much better as well if he had prime Crosby and Malkin to help things up front. Instead, the top two forwards up front for the Rangers were Derick Brassard and Derek Stepan.

Just saying the Penguins were always a playoff disappointment after Crosbys first Cup before they got Kessel

 

[NYRFAN218]

Just saying the Penguins were always a playoff disappointment after Crosbys first Cup before they got Kessel

I'm not getting your point at all. Great player added to a team with elite talent makes team better? You're right in that Kessel got a lot of shit just like Nash did here. But again, one got added to a club where he wasn't leaned on to carry the team while the other was the focal point of the offense.

And how many true disappointments were there? 10-11 they got knocked out in the 1st round where they didn't have Crosby or Malkin. 09-10 they lost a game 7 in round 2 but they had just been to back to back Cup Final appearances. 14-15 they flat out got beat by a better team in the Rangers (and every single one of those games was close despite the Rangers being favorites). The only ones I really look at as them coming up really short are 13-14 which was almost a perfect storm of sorts with the Rangers with how everything played out with MSL as well as Henrik being a brick wall in game 7 and 2012 which was probably the wildest playoff series in years in terms of how it played out with the goals.

 

[JT Kreider]

I'm not getting your point at all. Great player added to a team with elite talent makes team better? You're right in that Kessel got a lot of **** just like Nash did here. But again, one got added to a club where he wasn't leaned on to carry the team while the other was the focal point of the offense.

And how many true disappointments were there? 10-11 they got knocked out in the 1st round where they didn't have Crosby or Malkin. 09-10 they lost a game 7 in round 2 but they had just been to back to back Cup Final appearances. 14-15 they flat out got beat by a better team in the Rangers (and every single one of those games was close despite the Rangers being favorites). The only ones I really look at as them coming up really short are 13-14 which was almost a perfect storm of sorts with the Rangers with how everything played out with MSL as well as Henrik being a brick wall in game 7 and 2012 which was probably the wildest playoff series in years in terms of how it played out with the goals.

The fact that they didn't come away with a single Cup through 2010-2015 was a disappointment. 2009 was supposed to be the first of many for the Penguins.

 

[Edge]

I think one of my biggest beefs with Nash was the consistency.

There were times he’d put up video game numbers for a 3 game stretch and then disappear for the next 10 games.

 

[Overcast]

The fact that they didn't come away with a single Cup through 2010-2015 was a disappointment. 2009 was supposed to be the first of many for the Penguins.

And here we are, 2 back-to-back Cups for the Penguins and 3 Cups in the last 10 years later..

 

[JT Kreider]

And here we are, 2 back-to-back Cups for the Penguins and 3 Cups in the last 10 years later..

And what was the difference for the Penguins between 2010-2015 and the back to back Cups?

Phil Kessel.

 

[Baby Punisher]

If he only hit his chances in 2014 cup final - I think most would have a different view of R. Nash.

His playoffs on general weren't good at all. He put up some points here and there but he was supposed to be the difference maker and he shit the bed time and time again. When a player is labeled a difference maker and is paid like one and falls short of those expectations the only way to look at that player's tenure is as falling short of expectations.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

So...no actual defense of the comment that our defense was Top 3?

Figures.

Are there really people who believe we had a top-3 defense at any time in the last decade?