Rick Nash update: “NHL-ready forwards” are big part of asking price

With the CBA talks taking a turn for the scary and Shane Doan‘s decision put off for even longer, it seems like a decent time to take a glance at the drawn-out divorce between Rick Nash and the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The latest update in the hockey game show “What does GM Scott Howson want for Nash now?” comes from TSN. While it’s likely that a couple NHL-ready forwards won’t be enough to do the job alone, that’s currently Howson’s emphasis in talks.

“If we do complete a trade, we’re trading out a 30-to-40 goal scorer,” Howson said. “Defense is probably the strongest part of our team if we look at it today, so we’re looking to get some NHL forwards back first and foremost.”

Personally, I think Howson is only half-correct about the Blue Jackets’ strength. While they’ve invested an unusually large amount of money in their defense – compared to the value they’re expected to get – stopping other teams from scoring isn’t necessarily their strongest point. Instead, their blueliners are probably most adept at filling the net. Both Jack Johnson and James Wisniewski are known more for creating offense (sometimes for both sides) than stifling it.

Interestingly enough, Howson shot down rumors about the team’s interest in highly touted Los Angeles Kings backup Jonathan Bernier. He mentioned that there might have been some interest at the draft before they acquired Sergei Bobrovsky, but it stopped there.

Either way, many must wonder if the Blue Jackets will relent from what’s widely believed to be an excessive asking price for Nash. Howson isn’t budging on his quest to squeeze every asset he can imagine from the team’s soon-to-be-ex captain, though.

“I have a value that I’ve placed on Rick and that our whole organization has placed on Rick,” Howson said. “He’s an elite player, he’s been a tremendous ambassador for our franchise and our city and we’re very comfortable with the value we’ve placed on him and until we get that value, we’re going to keep working away at it.”

More than a few GMs probably feel like saying “good luck with that,” then.