page_title: Rick Nash
section_title: New York Rangers
hierarchical_section_title: Rick Nash / Playing career / New York Rangers
caption_attribution_description: English: 61 Rick Nash
context_page_description: Richard McLaren Nash is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who currently serves as the special assistant to the general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League. After being selected first overall in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft by Columbus, he played 15 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Blue Jackets, New York Rangers and Boston Bruins, and was selected to play in six National Hockey League All-Star Games.
  Prior to turning professional, Nash was a highly regarded prospect with the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League where he spent two seasons, earning the Emms Family Award in 2001 as the League's Rookie of the Year. He began his NHL career with the Blue Jackets immediately following his draft, in 2002–03, and was nominated for the Calder Trophy as NHL Rookie of the Year. In his second NHL season, Nash scored 41 goals to tie with Jarome Iginla and Ilya Kovalchuk as winners of the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy as the NHL's leading goal-scorer. Nash is a five-time NHL All-Star and was also awarded the NHL Foundation Player Award in the 2008–09 season for his charitable work in the Columbus community.
context_section_description: Nash signed a contract to play with HC Davos again during the 2012–13 NHL lockout. In late September 2012, while playing for Davos, Nash injured his shoulder and left the game.
  Nash had a successful first regular season with the Rangers, scoring 21 goals and 21 assists for 42 points in 44 games played in the lockout-shortened 2012–13 season. However, in the playoffs, Nash underwhelmed with only one goal and four assists in 12 playoff games.
  Nash opened the 2013–14 season well, with three assists in two games. But on October 8, 2013, in a game against the San Jose Sharks, Nash suffered a concussion from a hit by Brad Stuart, which forced him to miss 17 games. On November 21, Nash scored his first goal of the season in a 3–2 win against the Dallas Stars. He would finish the season with a solid goal total of 26 in 65 games, but with only 13 assists, his 39 points tied a career low. Nash struggled mightily in the playoffs for the second straight year, scoring only three goals in 25 playoff games. Despite his low offensive production, however, he was solid defensively throughout, and the Rangers reached the Stanley Cup Finals, ultimately losing in five games to the Los Angeles Kings in a series in which all the games were close decisions.
  Rick Nash had a superstar season in 2014–15 scoring 42 goals (third in the NHL behind Steven Stamkos with 43 and Alexander Ovechkin with 53) and 27 assists. Nash's production also improved during the 2015 playoffs, as he scored 5 goals and 9 assists (14 points) in 19 games as the Rangers fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning in a hard-fought 7-game Eastern Conference Finals series.
  Nash's performance declined at the start of the 2015–16 season as he struggled to recapture his scoring pace from the previous season. This was further exacerbated by muscle spasms that caused Nash to miss 22 games. Despite being involved in trade rumors, few teams seemed to be interested in Rick Nash and his $7.9 million cap hit. Nash scored a career-low 15 goals, going with 21 assists for a career-low 36 points. He then recorded two goals and two assists in New York's five-game opening round loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs.
  On October 11, 2016 Nash was named an alternate captain for the New York Rangers, joining Daniel Girardi, Marc Staal, and Derek Stepan along with captain Ryan McDonagh. On November 8, 2016, Nash scored his 400th goal in a 5–3 loss against the Vancouver Canucks. Nash again missed several games during the 2016–17 season, this time with a nagging groin injury. He still managed to score 23 goals and 15 assists for 38 points, in 67 games. Nash's production continued to improve during the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs. He recorded two goals and one assist in the Rangers six-game opening-round victory over the Montreal Canadiens.
  On October 26, 2017, Nash skated in his 1,000th NHL career game, which resulted in a 5–2 win over the Arizona Coyotes. He became the 312th player in NHL history to play at least 1,000 career games.
caption: Nash during the 2012–13 season, his first with the New York Rangers.
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