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Rick Nash day-to-day with ‘nagging injuries’

Rick Nash, Matthew Lombardi

Columbus Blue Jackets’ Rick Nash, left, and Phoenix Coyotes’ Matthew Lombardi fight for the puck in the second period of an NHL hockey game in Columbus, Ohio, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009. (AP Photo/Paul Vernon)

AP

Things were already bad enough for the Columbus Blue Jackets. After a 6-0 shellacking at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings, the team should have plenty of questions about its future in net and the future of the moribund franchise in general. Now they also have to deal with the injuries of far and away their best player, Rick Nash (with all due respect to the fragile Derick Brassard).

The Columbus Dispatch reports that the power forward left last night’s game in the first period with an undisclosed injury. (Note: it appears that it is a “lower body” injury, though.)

Nash, the top scorer, did not return for the second period because of what the team called a lower-body injury. Nash confirmed to The Dispatch that he has been nursing a couple nagging injuries since the March 2 game against Vancouver.

He’s not expected to play tonight in Anaheim.

At times, Nash was among the best players on the ice for Canada in the Olympics. It must have been quite the breath of fresh air for the power forward, who has dealt with an incompetent franchise that only managed one win-less trip to the playoffs since the team debuted in 2000. That being said, I can’t help but wonder if Nash will struggle to live up to the mammoth extension he signed this off-season. Despite the considerable physical presence he brings to the ice, a $7.8 million per year cap hit seems like a bit much for a player whose career high (and possibly his ceiling) is 79 points. Yes, he hasn’t had much help, but that’s a big price to pay.

Then again, I’d probably need to be overpaid to lose year after year too. Here’s hoping that Nash (who apparently is “day-to-day”) recovers quickly. The Blue Jackets could be an even bigger mess without him.