Nash rejoins Jackets as special assistant
Rick Nash isn’t back in Columbus, because the Blue Jackets’ former captain and only No. 1 overall pick in franchise history never really left.
Despite being traded to the New York Rangers in 2012 after playing his first nine NHL seasons with the Blue Jackets, the former face of the franchise maintained his residence in Dublin. He also kept tabs on his former team, and not just because they played in the same division.
“I put everything I had into this organization,” said Nash, who officially rejoined
and by the time they won the Cup, Spock was dead. (Leonard Nimoy, by the way, grew up a couple of blocks from the old Boston Garden and was a Bruins fan, which is to say that Spock, wherever he has been transported, raised an eyebrow Wednesday night.)
The Blue Jackets, after 18 seasons over 20 years, finally won a playoff series this spring. Although it was one of the greatest upsets in Cup history — a firstround sweep of the mighty, 62-victory Tampa Bay Lightning — the Jackets still fell 10 victories shy of the ultimate goal. If you are a Jackets fan, you can only hope that it doesn’t take them 52 years.
On Thursday, the Jackets moved around some frontoffice furniture. Ostensibly, they did this to account for the departure of John Davidson, former president of hockey operations, who last month moved back to New York to assume the presidency of the Rangers.
The Jackets announced that Bill Zito has been promoted to senior vice president of hockey operations, associate GM and alternate governor.
Basil Mcrae, who has run the player-personnel department, and Josh Flynn, a numbers guru who crunches everything from on-ice metrics to salary-cap calculations, have been promoted to assistant general manager. Chris Clark moves up into the player-personnel slot. And Rick Nash now has an official title: special assistant to the general manager (recruiting specialist?).
What does all of this mean? Davidson had a big cap slot, if you will, and presumably some of this money is being spread around (and job titles are being further encumbered) as a reward for the Jackets’ modest success. Kekalainen likes his crew, and he is doing what he can to maintain continuity.
They are facing unique challenges ahead of the draft (June 21-22) and the opening of the free agency (July 1). They’re going to lose goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, leading scorer Artemi Panarin — and probably top center Matt Duchene — among others. Right now, they have two draft picks, one in the third round and the other in the seventh. And that’s it.
The Jackets are transiting from a team that should have been comfortably in the playoffs but wound up with the second wild card to a team that will be doing well to get the second wild card. Kekalainen can tout the young players in his system — and there may be merit in what he says — but there is no replacing the high-end talent drain, not anytime soon.
There is a gaping hole. How do they fill it?
Opportunity looms for Kekalainen. He is looking to acquire draft picks. His defensive corps is deep and he can afford to use one or two in barter. At the draft, he could put together a package to acquire top-six forward help. And when the unrestricted free-agent market opens, he’ll have the cap space to do something substantial if he can arrange it.
Columbus has been building for a few years now and the market is more attractive than it was when Nash begged out of town. Patience, smart management and targeted aggression will always be paramount in a Columbus-size market. They will be keys for Kekalainen as he guides the Jackets through an interesting interlude over the next three weeks.