NHL Trade Rumors: 5 teams that should trade for Rick Nash

2. Anaheim Ducks

Even after firing head coach Bruce Boudreau, the Anaheim Ducks are still going to be an all-in team as they try to win the Stanley Cup. They resigned themselves to that fate when they extended center Ryan Kesler. Factor in an aging core of Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry and the Ducks are a team that will certainly express interesting in adding someone like Rick Nash.

Rick Nash makes sense for the Ducks for several reasons. First of all, the Ducks pushed in most of their chips by extending Kesler. They are going to hate that contract by roughly 2019. So why not push in all the chips to win now as opposed to later?

Secondly, the Ducks have precisely what the Rangers want: really good young defensemen. Two of them, to be specific. Both Sami Vatanen and Hampus Lindholm are restricted free agents. Anaheim likely can’t afford to keep both because both probably want a long-term deal (and rightfully so because they’ve both earned one). Lindholm is the guy who the Ducks will likely keep.

A straight swap of Vatanen for Nash is a bit underwhelming for the Ducks. So the Rangers would need to find a way to make it work. That could be quite difficult considering the Rangers have traded away a good portion of their draft picks. Still, Anaheim’s a fit for Nash, and Vatanen is the kind of guy the Rangers should be targeting in any return for him.

Next: 1. St. Louis Blues