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NHL: Is this the year that Rick Nash steps up for the Rangers?

By Mike Majeski

Oct 11, 2014; Columbus, OH, USA; New York Rangers left wing Rick Nash (61) controls the puck against the Columbus Blue Jackets during the third period at Nationwide Arena. Columbus defeated New York 5-2. Mandatory Credit: Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 11, 2014; Columbus, OH, USA; New York Rangers left wing Rick Nash (61) controls the puck against the Columbus Blue Jackets during the third period at Nationwide Arena. Columbus defeated New York 5-2. Mandatory Credit: Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports /
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Is this the year Rick Nash steps up for the New York Rangers?

Rick Nash was going to play a big role in the New York Rangers offense even before leading scorer Derek Stepan broke his leg during training camp. With Stepan out four weeks, at the very least, Rick Nash will be relied upon to carry the entire Rangers offense. Then again, when the Rangers traded away Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, and Tim Erixon to the Columbus Blue Jackets to acquire Nash, the belief was he would become the next star forward for the Rangers.

There is always some risk involved, for both sides, when a big name player signs in a market like New York. Nash isn’t the first big name to end up on the marquee at MSG: Brad Richards, Scott Gomez, Wade Redden, Chris Drury, and Bobby Holik are just a few examples of star players that have signed in New York and haven’t flourished. Richards was just bought out by the Rangers during the off-season. Rick Nash is by no means in danger of being let go by the Rangers, but they did not trade away a gifted scorer like Anisimov and someone with the leadership qualities of Dubinsky for Nash to get second and third line minutes.

Oct 9, 2014; St. Louis, MO, USA; New York Rangers left wing Rick Nash (61) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against the St. Louis Blues during the third period at Scottrade Center. The New York Rangers defeat the St. Louis Blues 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 9, 2014; St. Louis, MO, USA; New York Rangers left wing Rick Nash (61) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against the St. Louis Blues during the third period at Scottrade Center. The New York Rangers defeat the St. Louis Blues 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports /

Nash has put up decent numbers with the Rangers, 42 points during the lockout shortened 2013 season, and 39 points last season, which gave Nash his first trip to the Stanley Cup Final. Still, those numbers are a long way away from his career best 78 points with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2008-09. A 26 goal, 13 assists season would be acceptable on the Columbus Blue Jackets, and their score-by-committee approach, but with the Rangers and their mounting injuries, the expectations are much higher.

Nash’s inability to put up big numbers in New York is not a knock on his talent; now entering his 13th NHL season, Nash has been injury prone and struggled with concussion symptoms to start last year’s season.

So far the 2014-15 NHL season is off to a much better start for Nash (though the same may not be said for the Rangers, who lost defenseman Dan Boyle to a broken wrist in the third period of the opener). Nash has scored a goal in all three of the Rangers games so far this season, including a three points game (2 goals and 1 assist) in the Rangers opener against the St. Louis Blues.

Through three games, Nash has a 6.1 Corsi Rel % and 61.89 Off ZS%; which indicates how much the Rangers are relying on Nash in the offensive zone. [Courtesy of War-On-Ice]

He leads the Rangers in both points and goals, which is the exactly where the Rangers hoped Nash would be.

Four games of data is obviously too small of a sample size to analyze Nash’s performance statistically, but for those interested, here is what his career Shooting % currently looks like:

Courtesy of: sportingcharts.com
Courtesy of: sportingcharts.com /

After posting a near career low Shooting % in 2013-14 (0.1008), Nash has nearly tripled that value through the first four games of the 2014-15 season. Again, it is a small sample size, so do not expect him to continue to operate at that pace. With a PDO of 110.48, Nash is clearly on a hot streak and over-performing. The Rangers are likely hoping that Nash does not start to regress until after Stepan returns in November.

How much Nash regresses will be the determining factor on whether the 2014-15 NHL season is finally the one where we see him take on a prominent role with the New York Rangers. Whether Nash can avoid the injury bug that has plagued the Rangers lineup to start the season will also play a big role as well. If Nash can remain healthy and continue to play a big role in the Rangers production on the offense, he may avoid a significant amount of regression and be one of the leading scorers on the Rangers roster.

The injury to Stepan is by no means a positive for the Rangers, but it has given Rick Nash an outstanding opportunity to step up for the team and play a bigger role in their offense.

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