Jackets’ newest Nash presented No. 20 jersey
For those Blue Jackets fans who still have a Rick Nash jersey hanging in the closet, there’s good news. With a few alterations, what is old can become new again.
Riley Nash was handed a new Blue Jackets home jersey on Monday morning at Nationwide Arena.
While the surname on the back is a familiar one to fans, the number is different; Riley will wear No. 20, as he did in seven previous NHL seasons with Carolina and Boston. Rick Nash, whom the Jackets reportedly had interest in bringing back this offseason before he announced he would take time to decide if he will continue his career, wore No. 61 in nine seasons with the Jackets.
“He’s a great guy and he has left a lasting mark here,” Riley Nash, a center who signed a three-year deal with the Jackets on July 1, said of the former Blue Jackets captain. “I’m not trying to live up to his standards, just trying to blaze my own trail here.”
Although Riley Nash has yet to play a game with the Blue Jackets, he already has made some good memories in his new home. Not only was he teammates with Rick Nash last season — Rick’s wife, Jessica, has helped Riley’s girlfriend find them a place to live — but one of the milestone moments of his hockey career came in Columbus.
In 2007, the Blue Jackets hosted the NHL draft at Nationwide Arena, the year Edmonton took Riley Nash with the 21st overall pick. As he and his girlfriend explored Columbus, Nash passed the area where he and his family stayed around draft time.
“That was my first trip to Columbus and it turned out to be a good one,” Nash said. “Back then it felt pretty foreign. But 10 years later, I was driving around the Short North and saw Goodale Park. I remember walking through there with my parents and I kind of understand where I was. I have my bearings a lot better now.”
The Blue Jackets filled a need on the opening day of free agency when it landed Nash. Where he will land in the lineup will be decided later.
With the Bruins last season, Nash moved through the lineup and filled in when Patrice Bergeron was injured. Getting prime-time minutes with Boston led to career highs in goals (15) and assists (26).
Pierre Luc-Dubois and Alexander Wennberg are expected to center the Blue Jackets' top two lines, but by signing Nash, captain Nick Foligno likely would go back to playing wing.
“The foundation has been built here over the past four or five years,” Nash said. “This is a playoff team and last year, it was two games from beating the Capitals and they went on to win the Stanley Cup. … I’m not coming here to shake things up, just add a little different perspective, help get us over the hump.”
The Blue Jackets announced that first-round pick Liam Foudy signed his three-year entry-level contract.
Foudy, 18, is expected to attend training camp with the Jackets but spend the coming season with his junior team, the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League. The Jackets will next see Foudy when they participate in the annual prospect tournament in Traverse City, Michigan, from Sept. 7-11.