With the Stanley Cup Finals little more than a week away, the busy season has arrived for the rest of the NHL beginning work on their offseason plans. Trade rumors, signing your own players and major roster decisions are all in play with the NHL Draft and NHL free agency little more than a month away. That means the rumor mill is getting worked into a deep frenzy for 27 NHL teams watching the New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings work out the whole Stanley Cup thing. There were reports out of Columbus that the Bruins are working on pulling together a deal for discontented sniper Rick Nash as he becomes the biggest trophy on the trade market this summer. According to “The Canon” blog out of Columbus, the Blue Jackets TV play-by-play guy, Jeff Rimer, reported on one of the local radio stations that the Bruins were preparing a “major” offer for the former No. 1 overall pick.
The Bruins have needed a pure scorer for years. Even when they won the cup in 2011 there was a need for a forward whos forte was scoring goals. Rick Nash would fill that need. But what would Bruins fans be willing to give up? Nash makes 7.8 million per year. The Bruins would have to clear more cap space to aquire Nash while giving up a solid forward or two of their own in return. Supposedly Columbus is asking for a kings ransom, a combination of Hamilton, Seguin, Bergeron, Lucic or Krecji. Seguin or Bergeron are absolutely not going to happen. I would be very open to trading Krejci for Nash and sliding Seguin to center with Nash on the Right Wing. If it took both Lucic or Krejci for Nash I would pause a little but I still would probably do it. The wild card is we have no idea how Nash would preform in the playoffs. In 08-09 he played just 4 games with 3 points and was a minus 4. We do know how Lucic and Krejci have preformed and their level of play has been maddeningly inconsistent. Nash would be a risk, but it's a risk I'd be willing to take.
On a side note. I'd prefer Zach Parise over Nash. I know Parise would thrive in this Bruins system and his price tag should be a little less than Nash. If the Bruins could sign him in free agency they wouldn't have to give up any players to sign him (assuming he can fit in under the cap).
