2002 Scouting Report - 1 Rick Nash

[Bob McKenzie]

1 Rick Nash - Left Wing - Canada - London Knights (OHL)

As a member of the London Knights for two seasons in the OHL, Rick Nash began his major junior career with 66 points in his first year, receiving the Emms Family Award as the League's top rookie. The following season, he amassed 72 points in 54 games and was subsequently selected first overall in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets.



A big body, Nash is also blessed with tremendous offensive instincts. He loves to shoot and has the shot to score a lot of goals. Owns great acceleration and skates really well. Also has the puck control to beat defensemen one on one regularly.

The first NHL contract for Nash was negotiated minutes before the signing deadline by Gord Kirke. It was the most lucrative contract for an NHL rookie at the time, valued at 1.2 million USD per season plus bonuses and incentives which ranged from 8 to US$12 million.

Joining the Blue Jackets in 2002–03, Nash debuted on October 10, 2002, and scored a goal in a 2–1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks. He was the eighth number one overall pick to score a goal in their first game and the first to do so in his draft year since Mario Lemieux in 1984. That season, Nash was nominated for the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie, but lost to defenseman Barret Jackman of the St. Louis Blues.

In Nash's sophomore campaign, he improved his rookie goal total from 17 to 41, a career-high that tied Jarome Iginla and Ilya Kovalchuk for the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy for most goals in the League. At 19 years of age, Nash was the youngest player in history to lead the League in goals.



During the 2004–05 NHL lockout, Nash played for HC Davos of the Swiss Nationalliga A (NLA). He scored 26 goals and 46 points in 44 games and added 11 more points (nine goals and two assists) in 15 games in the NLA playoffs. Joined by fellow NHL-er Joe Thornton, Davos went on to win the Swiss Championship, as well as the 2004 Spengler Cup.

With the NHL set to resume play in 2005–06, the Blue Jackets re-signed Nash to a five-year, $27 million contract. The deal saw his annual salary increase each year, with $3.5 million the first season and $7 million in the last season of the contract for a $5.4 million average salary. Knee and ankle injuries, however, sidelined Nash for much of the first half of the season. Missing 28 games total, Nash was still named to Team Canada for the 2006 Olympics, shortly after being activated from the injured reserve. Upon returning from a disappointing seventh-place finish in Turin, Nash completed the season at a point-per-game pace with 54 points in 54 games.



In 2012, Columbus eventually found a trade partner in the New York Rangers. Nash, along with Steven Delisle and a conditional third-round pick in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, were traded to the Rangers for Artem Anisimov, Brandon Dubinsky, Tim Erixon and a 2013 first-round draft pick.

On October 26, 2017, Nash skated in his 1,000th NHL career game, which resulted in a 5–2 win over the Arizona Coyotes. He became the 312th player in NHL history to play at least 1,000 career games.

AWARDS

OHL

OHL All-Rookie Team – 2001
Emms Family Award (rookie of the year) – 2001

CHL

CHL All-Rookie Team – 2001

NHL

NHL All-Rookie Team – 2003
Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy – 2004 (shared with Ilya Kovalchuk and Jarome Iginla)
NHL All-Star Game appearance – 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2015
NHL Foundation Player Award – 2009

NLA

Best Swiss League forward – 2004–05

International

World Championships gold medal – 2007
World Championships MVP – 2007
World Championships All-Star Team – 2007, 2008
Gold medal – 2010 Winter Olympic Games
Gold medal – 2014 Winter Olympic Games

Other

Best Play ESPY Award nomination – 2008

PROS:

He scored arguably one of the greatest individual effort goals of all-time.



CONS:



This mother fucker and his stupid lockouts prevented us from seeing legitimate final career stats for many, many players.