Nash's Trade List Disclosed; Includes Detroit
I guess all those beatdowns by the Winged Wheel really stuck with #61. Today, the Dispatch released Nash's trade-list and Detroit's on it.
Nash's list of "approved" destinations -- Boston, Detroit, the New York Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and San Jose...Not one of Canada's seven NHL franchises made the list, including the club Nash grew up worshipping, the Toronto Maple Leafs.
It's certainly interesting and keeps me at least interested in the whole deal. I know people are very hesitant to get on the Nash train because of worries about his game and effort level, but as someone who lives in Columbus and can afford the $3 tickets to the Jackets games (not kidding), I can say that Nash is something special and would absolutely kill it in a Wings uni.Hit the jump for more on Nash:
The Dispatch (which, by the way, is an example how hockey should be covered by a local paper, they do a great job. Take note Detroit "deep diggers.") adds some insight to my thoughts:
It has been said that Nash still has a lot of "junior" left in his game. In the junior ranks, elite players can single-handedly take over a game. Once they get to the NHL, they learn to rely on their teammates to be effective. Nash has never had the luxury of doing that. In the early years, the talent around him wasn't good enough to keep up, so he was forced to create almost all of his scoring chances. That's still how he plays a lot of nights.
This is a very fair evaluation to his game today, but it's almost because he's had to play that game. He's not a selfish player, but one that can dominate if given the chance. Imagine these two being put together.There'd be magic all over the ice. I don't know if you could stop them from scoring on nearly every shift. Plus, Babcock would beat the hell out of him too:
"He's going to change the way he plays with his next team, you can definitely see that," Ferraro said. "He's not playing junior hockey any longer if he ends up in New York (John Tortorella) and Detroit (Mike Babcock), I'll promise you that. Those coaches will get it out of him in a hurry."
I love the idea. I have no idea what it'll take and I'm sure that it's a pipedream as Howson seems to want the farm, but if it were to take Filppula plus Nyquist + a draft pick, I'd take that in a second. I don't know if the world realizes just how powerful Nash could be in the right situation.
Did you guys see this? http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=637714&cmpid=nhl-rxl-twt Mentions possibly having to get rid of Helm. That would not make me happy.
I think that whether it's for Nash, Bobby Ryan or a #1 defenseman, Filppula's most valuable to Detroit as a trade asset. I think that if Detroit doesn't trade him now then we'll all see Filppula walk away next July. He should be a #2 (at worst) centre in the NHL but he's not going to get that chance any time soon in Detroit, and Detroit's options will be to pay too much for him to play the wing -since he's not an elite goal scorer- or watch him sign a Jordan Staal-like contract with a team that will give him a first or second line to centre.
He's a great piece to be used in trade for Bobby Ryan or Rick Nash (Ryan would be my preference), so that we can have an elite goal scorer to play with Datsyuk or Zetterberg (with Franzen playing on the wing with whichever centre doesn't play with Ryan).
I would also look into including him in a deal for Yandle, but from what I've read Phoenix isn't shopping Yandle but only listening to offers, and I don't know that Detroit has enough to wow Phoenix into make a deal. I think the better bet would be to offer up some picks or something for Bouwmeester for the relatively short term.
I do like Filppula, but the last time he really did anything significant in the playoffs was four years ago. He's good on the ice, but he's much more valuable as trade bait.
@garth I'm not so sure Anaheim is going to want to trade away their only great forward who is not becoming a UFA at the end of next season (Ryan) for another pending UFA. That would put Fil, Getzlaf, and Perry as pending UFAs.
@ThroatShot I'm not sure they will either, but Ryan's not happy, and he's been on the block and numerous sources have said they're looking for a top-six centre. And if you like someone enough you can trade for him and try to extend him. If you give Filppula top-six money and top-six minutes and put faith in him, he'll likely sign.
send filpula. please send him. for anything. even its one of nash's old jock straps
"but if it were to take Filppula plus Nyquist + a draft pick,"
I say Cleary, Emmerton or Mursak, Abdelkader's rights, McCollum or Pearce and Holmstrom (just to show Howson how much you respect him), then work from there.
Howson is as useless as tits on a nun, therefore whoever gets Nash is going to fleece him on the deal, so Kenny should be the one to do it.
I still don't quite understand this trading for Nash business. Have you seen our defenseman?! If you're going to trade for someone, trade for a DEFENSEMAN!!!
@marti783 True, but I think if there's someone available of Nash's caliber you look into it.
Unless Yandle/J-Bo is a possibility.
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We can hardly replace Stuart with what is available in the trade market let alone Lidstrom.
I think its time to start looking at offsetting D-men with high scoring. Find a big fish on the market in the years ahead to improve the D.
It seems that Jimmy Howard gets missed in this whole discussion. I think he is one of the most underrated players in the entire game. Jonathan Quick won games for his team. Howard can too. And unlike the last few years where he had to play every game possible because the backup sucked, he has a SOLID back up goalie this year.
I think we have to accept the fact that the Wing's style might have to change into a goal scoring dump and chase game.
I think they'll want more than that if they trade to Detroit, which I would be very uneasy about giving up. I don't see them willingly give him to us when they could ship him to the other conference.
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@Reddy Now I agree that Howson will be hesitant, but I mostly wrote about Fil because I'm sick of people saying he's off limits.
@moorecha Fair enough, I do like him but I would switch him for Nash. My one concern about Nash is that what if he pulls a Hossa and disappears in the playoffs? I'm not saying Fil/Franzen didn't, but thats my Nash concern, he's not playoff proven.
@ThroatShot @Reddy Franzen isn't a steal for what he gets paid. He WOULD be a steal if he performed to his potential.
I would be very surprised if they offered Franzen and Fil.
I think Columbus believes that the rule still applies, which is that you generally get more for a player during the off season than at the trade deadline. I don't think it is true for Nash. I think a lot of teams would have payed a premium to solve their issues before the playoffs. This offseason I don't think that premium will be offered.
@ThroatShot Agreed. I don't for one second think they'll trade Nash to us. Franzen is a steal, but he so obviously flakes out that it's pretty frustrating, since we all know what he is capable of.
@Reddy @moorecha Remember the Rangers offered them a crap ton more than that before the trade deadline as well as after the season. The reliable-ish rumor mill of the DRW beat writers said we offered Franzen, Fil, Emmerton, and a 1st Rounder but Columbus refused unless we swapped Emmerton for Nyquist or Smith. (I don't have the citation for this anymore because this- I thought was old news a few weeks ago.) I think garth was right that Howson is an idiot, but he seems to be an idiot in the other direction, demanding a ludicrous amount more than merited. Remember that Fil had more points than Nash last season (yes, I know the lines and environment were much better for Fil).
Franzen has had his career in his own hands for years and rarely does he step up and produce.
The guy could easily be the best value in the entire league, which I thought would eventually happen, but he has been a let down in most cases. Still like him a lot, want to see him perform at the level he can but I lost hope. He just disappears for most of the year and the playoffs.
I am curious to see if someone overpays for Nash or if Columbus loses out because they want him gone.
Too bad raw data doesn't show the picture. Hell. I don't need to have names but a 30 goal 7.8 mil on the worst team in the league for a decade versus 4 mil 29 on the best team of the last decade.
I will take the 7.8 mil guy because I know that with a decent team they have plenty of room to move upward.
@Reddy People think Franzen's contract is unmoveable, but I guarantee that there are teams who would love to have him/. If you can get him to meet his "potential" then $4M is not a big cap hit at all, and you know there are teams that think they can get him to hit hit potential.
Hell, based on raw data would you rather have a 30-goal, 59-point scorer for $7.8M or a 29-goal, 56-point scorer for $3.95M (who is never going to need a raise)?
@Reddy Putting in Franzen would also lighten our cap load and maybe make room for another piece and Weber next year.
Isn't that a concern with everyone?
I recall clearly that we even had Datsyuk in that category a couple times right before winning the cup.
Not to mention I wonder how much incentive you have to play your best every night knowing that you won't even make the playoffs. Wait until Nash has that pushing him.
