Rick Nash News: Pro Sports Daily

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March 13

Columbus Dispatch

"The Blue Jackets will be without two-thirds of their No. 1 line on Saturday when they play the St. Louis Blues. Right winger Rick Nash will miss his third straight game with a lower body injury, while left winger Kristian Huselius will sit because of an upper body ailment. Huselius returned Thursday after a two-game absence, but apparently aggravated the injury."

Nash vows Jackets won't quit on season

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March 10

Columbus Dispatch

"A Blue Jackets season that many consider over has one month remaining. The team's top two leaders said yesterday that the final 15 games cannot pass without a sense of relevance and pride. With fan unrest growing and the Jackets reeling from a 6-0 loss Monday in Los Angeles, Rick Nash and R.J. Umberger said they are taking it upon themselves to promote the importance of the season's final weeks regardless of the standings. "Guys are playing for a lot of different reasons, but I've got to make sure these guys are playing for the pride of the city," said Nash, the team captain. "They can't just worry about personal stats and that. We are trying to build a fan base and maintain a fan base, ..."

Rick Nash leaves game in first with undisclosed injury

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March 9

Columbus Dispatch

"At least the Blue Jackets didn't keep their fans up all night this time only to blow another third-period lead. No, the outcome was delivered so quickly, so decisively, writers for Jay Leno could have penciled in Blue Jacket gags in time for his monologue. There was rich material to be mined from this odious performance. The Los Angeles Kings scored four times in the first 16 minutes last night on the way to a 6-0 victory in Staples Center. "That was more than tough, it was embarrassing," forward R.J. Umberger said. "We didn't play smart. If we get beat, we get beat. But we were our own worst enemies out there." Goaltender Steve Mason's recent run of fine play ended as he allowed the first ..."

From gold to gloom

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March 5

Columbus Dispatch

"Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash walked into the locker room yesterday and saw three empty stalls to the right of his locker, the nameplates above each removed. Fredrik Modin, gone. Raffi Torres, gone. Milan Jurcina, gone. "Kind of lonely over there," Nash said. A week ago, he played for a Canadian Olympic hockey team worth its weight in gold. Yesterday, he dealt with the realities of another Blue Jackets' retooling project. The only Torres in the room was a bantamweight cage fighter named Miguel doing a meet and greet with players in advance of his Saturday fight in Nationwide Arena. A day after the Blue Jackets moved three veterans at the NHL trade deadline for draft picks, prospects and a ..."

Gold medal hasn't hit home for Nash

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March 3

Columbus Dispatch

"Rick Nash has returned from the Olympics with a new title to put before his name. No longer is he just Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash or All-Star Rick Nash. He is now gold-medal winner Rick Nash. "I don't think it's sunk in quite yet," Nash said before last night's game. "It's truly amazing to win gold in your own country. It's unbelievable. I think the biggest thing was the sense of relief after (Sidney Crosby's winning) goal went in. I've never jumped the boards so quick in my life. Just the relief that we did it in our own country with so much pressure on us was the biggest thing." Nash consistently talked about the pressure that the team was under. Nash finished the Olympics with two ..."

Gold medal could be silver lining for Nash

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March 2

Columbus Dispatch

columnist Rob Oller

"A painting of Rick Nash hangs in the office of Blue Jackets interim coach Claude Noel, an abstract piece of art in which one would struggle to identify the player within the frame. The picture perfectly captures Nash's career. Seven seasons in Columbus and Jackets fans still are not exactly sure what to make of the team's best player. He is an enigma wrapped in a CBJ sweater. Is Nash a top-15 player in the league? Sometimes. Is the Blue Jackets' captain an effective leader? Maybe. This much is clear: Nash is a nice guy and ever-improving playmaker who might simply need a healthy dose of big-time success to finally bring his work into focus. Winning Olympic gold as a member of Team Canada ..."

Blue Jackets teammates gather to cheer on Nash

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March 1

Columbus Dispatch

"Six Blue Jackets players, representing three nations, found one common rooting interest yesterday while watching the Olympic gold-medal game. "Guys kept yelling at the TV set, 'Get Nasher out there again,'" forward Derek Dorsett said. "It was awesome to see him play such a good game." From the Downtown condominium of Jared Boll and Kris Russell to the suburban home of general manager Scott Howson, many were happy to see captain Rick Nash become the first Blue Jackets player to win an Olympic gold medal. Nash was a member of Team Canada, which outlasted the Americans 3-2 on Sidney Crosby's overtime winner in Vancouver. As the Canadians received their medals, even Boll, an American rooting ..."

Nash gets rave reviews for his play in Olympics

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February 26

Columbus Dispatch

"At this rate, Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash might not participate in the team's taxing Olympic-break practices made to simulate training camp. His Columbus teammates, however, don't begrudge the fact he's missing all the conditioning drills. They have enjoyed watching Nash and five other Blue Jackets play in the Olympic hockey tournament. Nash has become a vital contributor to Team Canada's drive for a gold medal in Vancouver. He has scored goals in consecutive games heading into a semifinal tonight against Slovakia, which includes Blue Jackets defenseman Milan Jurcina. "Nasher has been really good," forward Derek Dorsett said. "He has been getting lots of chances, playing a physical ..."

Nash Changes Lines

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February 23

Columbus Dispatch

"Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash will have new Team Canada linemates as the Olympic tournament reaches the knockout phase on Tuesday. TSN's Bob McKenzie reports that Nash will play with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry for Tuesday's game against Germany. The move is hardly unexpected as Nash and Sidney Crosby were both minus-3 in Canada's 5-3 loss to the United States. The ratings were a bit misleading in that Nash and Crosby were on the ice for two goals in which Marty Brodeur made dreadful decisions in playing the puck. Nash, however, lost a board battle that led to the Americans' first goal."

Nash, Crosby Remain Together

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February 21

Columbus Dispatch

"Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash will remain on a line with Sidney Crosby when Team Canada faces Team USA on Sunday, reports the Canadian Press. Nash will move to right wing, however, as Mike Richards replaces Jarome Iginla on the line. Richards got a few shifts there late in Thursday's game against the Swiss. The Canada-USA game highlights an unbelievable day of Olympic hockey. The card features rematches of the last three gold-medal games: Czech Republic-Russia (1998), Canada-USA (2002), Sweden-Finland (2006). There's plenty of intrigue surrounding the North American border war that appropriately is being contested near the international border in Vancouver. It pits NHL teammates such as ..."

Rick Nash now joins a Canadian team whose fans accept nothing short of winning it all

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February 14

Columbus Dispatch

"Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash will play in Nationwide Arena today for two points in the NHL standings. After the game, he expects to board a chartered jet bound for Vancouver, where he will play for the pride of his nation. Representing the home team is about to take on a different meaning for Nash, 25, a member of the Canadian Olympic hockey team. He'll leave behind a fan base that celebrated a seventh-place finish in the Western Conference last season for one that will mourn any result short of a gold medal. Playing in such an environment of high expectations, one that cannot be simulated in Columbus, could have a positive impact on Nash and the Blue Jackets should he succeed. "It will ..."

Rick Nash records 400th point

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January 19

Columbus Dispatch

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"Rick Nash recorded his 400th point on his second-period goal. The Jackets regained the lead on a power-play goal by Rick Nash. He scored on a hard-angle wrist shot that found a space inside the near post and under the crossbar. Nice pass, R.J. Umberger. Slow slide, Chris Mason. Wicked shot, Nash. After an 11-game drought, Nash has three goals in the past two games."

Nash tries to figure way out of drought

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January 16

Columbus Dispatch

"The last time Rick Nash went 11 games without scoring a goal, the Blue Jackets winger was a rookie playing on a line with Mike Sillinger and Grant Marshall. In the fall of 2002, the baby-faced Nash was making $1.2 million a season for a fledgling franchise while most of central Ohio was enamored of the promise of another 18-year-old, named Maurice Clarett. Times, fortunes and expectations have changed. The Blue Jackets enter today's game against Chicago as an underachieving club searching for goals and wins. During one of their worst stretches, Nash has struggled right alongside his teammates. A soft-spoken captain who likes to lead by example, Nash hasn't scored a goal in 11 games, tying ..."

Nash: Still time to save Jackets' season

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January 2

Columbus Dispatch

"Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash greeted a new decade with an unsettlingly familiar scenario yesterday, coming to the rink Jan. 1 to practice with a struggling team. Nash and his teammates have lost 18 of their past 21 games to find themselves 10 points out of a playoff spot with less than half a season remaining. In a six-week stretch, the Jackets have regressed from a talented team building off its first Stanley Cup playoff appearance to one resembling the depths of the expansion years. Meanwhile, Nash, one of the sport's best power forwards, has scored just five times during the 3-12-6 slide. But as Nash, 25, prepares to face former Blue Jackets captain Adam Foote and the Colorado ..."

Nash can't do it all himself

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December 16

Columbus Dispatch

"Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash insists he's trying everything he can to help his team escape a prolonged slump. Coach Ken Hitchcock doesn't doubt Nash's word or his intent. But he wants the Jackets' best player to make better use of the teammates Nash is trying to assist. Nash had only two goals in the past 13 games before scoring the team's lone goal last night. He has been guilty, Hitchcock said, of trying to beat defenses on his own. "I talked to him about it," Hitchcock said. "Rick has such a great team heart, and he takes these things personally. But you have to trust your teammates, trust the guys you are working with, work with them more often. You don't have to do it all by ..."

Dallas Stars fall to Blue Jackets, 4-1, at AAC

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November 20

Dallas Morning News

"Playing in a fight-filled game and losing the special-teams battle in just about every way, Dallas fell 4-1 to Columbus toto 3-3-3 at American Airlines Center. That's not the kind of success expected from a team that entered the season with the second-best home record in the NHL since 2002. "We have to find a way to take care of home ice," center Brad Richards said. And find a way to get on a roll. The Stars followed an impressive performance in Detroit with a muddled game that went in about three directions. And once again, they lost after winning. Only once this season have the Stars followed a win with a win. That leaves them 9-6-6, trailing the surprising Blue Jackets, who ..."

Nash nearly falls in shootout

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November 14

Columbus Dispatch

"Rick Nash's moves often inspire awe. Last night in a shootout, they produced chuckles around the Blue Jackets' locker room. Nash ended the game with an off-balance shot that fooled Anaheim Ducks goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere in a 3-2 win. The Blue Jackets captain caught a skate in a rut as he approached Giguere. Nash's left foot kicked forward, but he somehow managed to take a high shot that just went under the crossbar. The Jackets won the shootout 2-0. "I lost my balance so bad that I had nothing else to do but shoot," said Nash, who also scored his team-leading 13th goal in the first period on a partial breakaway. Nash has not had a productive career in the shootout, converting 13 ..."

"Lines that you dream about" unveiled in opening session

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August 25

Calgary Herald

"Rick Nash figures a midget hockey plugger could shine on his line at the Canadian Olympic orientation camp. "It was pretty fun out there, playing with pretty much the best two players in the game," the Columbus Blue Jackets captain said Monday night after the second practice at the Pengrowth Saddledome. "They can make anybody look good." In what could be a preview of the No. 1 line for Canada at the Vancouver Olympics, Nash patrolled the left side with Sidney Crosby, of the Pittsburgh Penguins, in the middle and Jarome Iginla, of the Calgary Flames, on the right. "I think with those two, anybody can gain chemistry right away," he said. "You just put your stick down and the puck is right ..."

Being a Leaf definitely tempted Nash

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July 21

Toronto Sun

"Rick Nash didn't need Maple Leafs fans to tell him he would look good in blue and white -- the Brampton native has enough friends and family to remind him regularly. But the Columbus star admits the allure of playing for his home-town team was a huge consideration prior to re-upping with the Blue Jackets a year before he would have become an unrestricted free agent. "It was tempting," Nash said yesterday at Glen Abbey Golf Club prior to teeing off in the inaugural Mike Weir Charity Classic. "It's home. And it would be a dream to wear the Maple Leafs uniform. "But at the end of the day Columbus is where I'm happy and I think we are on the right track." Nash wouldn't necessarily have ..."

Just imagine what Nash might do by 2018

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July 11

Columbus Dispatch

columnist Michael Arace

"Rick Nash holed up in his lake house for a week after he agreed to terms on the most important contract in Blue Jackets history. He emerged yesterday to sign the deal, in front of a mass of media and front-office personnel, in the Founders Club room in Nationwide Arena. General manager Scott Howson used a Bic Ultra Round Stic Grip pen, the one with the clear plastic housing and the rubber grip near the tip, to sign on behalf of the team. Clearly, a regular Bic Stic would not have matched the gravity of the situation. Nash opened his suit coat and whipped out a gold Cross pen, signed his name and sent his message. His new contract commits him through 2017-18. He is the face of the ..."

Rooted in Columbus

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July 11

Columbus Dispatch

"Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash put pen to paper yesterday, signing the eight-year, $62.4 million contract extension he'd agreed to one week earlier. With his signature, Nash set a world of possibilities in motion. When the contract expires -- after the 2017-18 season -- Nash will be 34 years old, a 15-year NHL veteran, most likely an 11-year captain of the Blue Jackets and in the latter stages of what could be a Hall of Fame career. The 25-year-old chuckled yesterday when asked if he'd picked out a spot for his statue on Nationwide Plaza, but that's the trajectory his career is on. "One of the things that Scott (Howson, Blue Jackets general manager) mentioned repeatedly during this process ..."

Nash structures deal so it helps Jackets

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July 4

Columbus Dispatch

"That massive display of fireworks launched from the Arena District last night could easily have had a dual meaning. The Blue Jackets were in full-blown celebration mode after signing captain Rick Nash to an eight-year, $62.4 million contract extension. The deal, which begins with the 2010-11 season, will pay Nash an average of $7.8 million per season. "It's a very fair number," general manager Scott Howson said. "Rick made a statement to the team and the city that he's not out for every last dollar. He wanted to have a fair contract that allows us the flexibility to build the team around him. "This is very exciting for all of us. We're glad it's done, and now we can get onto task of ..."

Captain has shown he's worth every penny

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July 4

Columbus Dispatch

columnist Michael Arace

"Rick Nash was a rich young man yesterday. He is a much richer young man today. The thing about it is, he wanted to make his money here, in Columbus, and be a part of a process here, in Columbus. Nash wants to win a Stanley Cup, and he thinks he knows the parade route. Nash signed an eight-year contract extension last night worth $62.4 million. Throughout the hockey world, there will be those who say the Blue Jackets overpaid for their franchise player. We heard that last time Nash signed a contract extension, in 2004, when the Jackets gave him a five-year deal worth $27 million. That contract was a bet: If Nash was going to be a star, if he was going to be the cornerstone of the franchise, ..."

So much for Nash in T.O.

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July 4

Toronto Sun

columnist Mike Zeisberger

"No Sedins. No Cammalleri. And now, no Nash. After efforts by the Maple Leafs to land the Sedin twins and Richmond Hill native Mike Cammalleri fell short earlier this week, there were hopes throughout the city that Brampton's Rick Nash might somehow be wooed to Toronto when he became eligible to be an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2010. Columbus Blue Jackets officials were said to be well aware of the chatter north of the border -- talk spearheaded by FAN-590/Sportsnet analyst Doug MacLean, the man who drafted Nash first overall in 2002 -- suggesting a marriage between Nash and the Leafs would make perfect sense down the road. So much for those aspirations. Barring a trade, Nash ..."

Star Forward Nash Re-Signs With Blue Jackets

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July 3

TSN.ca

"Rick Nash will be staying in Columbus for the long haul. The 25-year old forward has signed an eight-year, $62.4 million contract extension with the Blue Jackets. The yearly cap hit on the deal is $7.8 million. Nash, who tallied 79 points in 78 games played last season, was the fifth highest goal scorer in the NHL in 2008-09, netting 40 goals. In 2003-04, Nash shared the Rocket Richard Trophy for leading goal-scorer with Calgary's Jarome Iginla and Atlanta's Ilya Kovalchuk . The four-time all-star who became the captain of the team less than two years ago was scheduled to become a free agent at the end of the 2009-10 season."

Sign Nash, then wait for trades to fill gaps

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July 1

Columbus Dispatch

columnist Michael Arace

"Rick Nash is going to re-up in Columbus. By all indications, it will get done, and sooner rather than later. The Nash extension is the most important player-personnel deal in the history of the Blue Jackets. Nash will agree to terms and remain entrenched as the team's captain and franchise player -- or he will be traded, to salvage some value before he hits the free-agent market next year. If Nash gets traded, the Jackets lose. It would be a major blow to the franchise, its roster, its fan base, its perception of viability. In such situations, I always recall the words of former New York Knicks President (and current St. Louis Blues owner) Dave Checketts: "If we trade Patrick Ewing to the ..."

Wooing Nash

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July 1

Columbus Dispatch

"At an airport hotel in suburban Toronto yesterday, the Blue Jackets commenced their push to keep captain Rick Nash under contract long into the future. Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson organized a noon meeting with Nash and his agent, Joe Resnick, at which Howson laid bare the Jackets' plans long into the future: how he plans to build the Blue Jackets, where Nash fits into the grand scheme, etc. It was seen by Resnick as a bold and unique move. But with Nash able to sign a contract extension as of noon today, Howson was willing to go out of his way to state the Blue Jackets' case. "This is the most important contract I've ever been involved with," Howson said. While some NHL clubs ..."

Nash's future about to get clearer

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June 17

Columbus Dispatch

columnist Michael Arace

"The NHL has reached its annual nadir of activity. Below this still surface there is a roiling of rumor, innuendo and speculation. The surface will be broken two weeks hence, on July 1, the start of the summer signing season. It will bring a mushroom of furious activity. Here in Columbus, fans are girding for trades -- and they are looking forward, with some trepidation, for the start of contract negotiations with Rick Nash. Nash. The name is popping up at block parties, backyard barbecues and along the saloon rails. Will the Blue Jackets' franchise forward remain to take the team to a new level? Or, is he destined to move on to some other pasture? As of July 1, the picture will begin to ..."

Nash noncommittal on contract

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April 25

Columbus Dispatch

"A clean-shaven Rick Nash stood in the locker room yesterday discussing the atmosphere inside Nationwide Arena on Thursday night. An energetic, sellout crowd saw the Blue Jackets rally twice from two-goal deficits before falling 6-5 to the Detroit Red Wings, completing a four-game sweep of the Stanley Cup playoff series. "Obviously, I watched a lot of hockey growing up in Toronto and I have never seen fans stand for a period and a half and be that loud," Nash said. "That's how good it can be if we get on a run." Blue Jackets fans no doubt like the sound of "we." Nash has only one season remaining on his contract, but the Jackets can begin negotiating with him on July 1. After a 40-goal ..."