Rick Nash to the Rangers

While we all await the big decision in Nashville that will directly affect the Penguins by potentially adding Shea Weber to the Flyers, Glen Sather jumps in and trades for RW Rick Nash of the Columbus Blue Jackets, a third round pick in next year's draft and a minor league defenseman, sending centers Brandon Dubinsky and Artem Anisimov, along with top defensive prospect Tim Erixson and next year's number one pick back to Columbus!  The Rangers gave up some pretty good NHL players, with Dubinsky a two time twenty goal scorer, but he struggled mightily last year, and only scored 10 goals and 34 points, though he was a plus 16 player.  He fell into Tortorella's doghouse, and was likely done as a  Ranger anyway.  Artem Anisimov is a young center with some upside, and he added 16 goals and 36 points for New York while playing to a plus 12.  Erixson is the Ranger's top defensive prospect, playing in 18 NHL games last season, adding 2 goals and 2 assists.  Sather wins, as he held firm that he would not give up Michael Del Zotto, Derek Stepan or last year's playoff phenom Chris Krieder in the Nash move.  This move bugs me for the Penguins for a couple of reasons.  First, adding the 6'4"  218  Nash to an already formidable Rangers team who won the Eastern Conference in the regular season, and went to Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals is a great addition.  Nash since his second season in 2003-04 has scored 30 or more goals every year on a weak Columbus team, and scored over 40 twice.  Adding him to a top line with Brad Richards, gives the Rangers some real size and skill. He is also a captain, so he will add some leadership qualities to an already tough team that now has a top group of forwards that includes Marian Gaborik who had 41 goals and 76 points last season, Brad Richards, who had 25 goals and 66 points, Ryan Callahan who had 29 goals and 54 points, Derek Stepan who had 17 goals and 51 points, and rookie playoff phenom Chris Kreider who looked like a speedster with solid top six potential in the post season last year.  But that is not the scariest part of the Rangers to me.  The Ranger still have about 13M in cap space to play with, with contracts due to RFA defensemen Michael Del Zotto and Anton Stralman.  Assuming they spend 7.5M to 8M of that sign both players, they will still have 5M to 5.5M to wave at Shane Doan who visited the team this past week and came away impressed. Adding another gritty captain, with the ability to score goals to a team who plays solid defense, has a great goaltender, and an impressive group of forwards would be a tough pill to swallow!  I am hopeful that a deep run in last year's playoffs and the loss of some character guys in Dubinsky, Prust and Fedotenko has taken some toll on a team who has the potential with the addition of Doan to be a very deep and balanced offensive team to go along with a Vezina winning goaltender and solid defense.  The addition of Nash and the potential addition of Weber to Atlantic Divsion rivals surely has to impact our Pittsburgh Penguins in the coming year.  What does Shero have up his sleeve with which to counter?  We will see in the coming days.