It was five years ago yesterday that the Blue Jackets and then general manager Scott Howson traded away the team’s best player and captain, Rick Nash. This represented a huge organizational shift as the Jackets looked to be headed into yet another rebuild, just one season after acquiring Jeff Carter and going for it. Nash having spent his entire career in Columbus was looking to win and waived his no move clause to go to the New York Rangers.
In return the Blue Jackets received; Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, Tim Erixon and a 2013 first round pick. This was a classic case of a team trading a star player for a sum of parts instead of getting another star in return. Usually these types of trades don’t work out for the team trading the star, but in Columbus’ case it certainly worked out.
At the time Tim Erixson was a very interesting part of the deal. He was a first round pick in 2009 and had just finished up his first season in North America. He put up 33 points in 52 AHL games and another two in 18 for the Rangers. The Jackets were looking to add some youth and talent to the back-end and with Erixon they thought they had that. Erixson though was unable to translate his AHL success to the NHL and played just 52 games with the Jackets over three seasons.
The first round pick the Jackets received also didn’t quite work out as planned. The Jackets had three first round picks in 2013 and used the Rangers pick to select Kerby Rychel at 19th overall. Rychel was a strong player in junior and brought that tantalizing blend of size and skill the Jackets were looking for. He had some success in the AHL, but was unhappy he wasn’t getting the opportunities at the NHL level like fellow 2013 first round picks Alexander Wennberg and Marko Dano were. It got to a point where the Jackets couldn’t deal with the off-ice issues and traded Rychel for pennies on the dollar to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Scott Harrington.
Those two players show the risk in making these types of trades. If the young players don’t work out it can completely ruin the deal. Thankfully for the Jackets the two NHL players they got turned out better than expected. Artem Anisimov was a really nice addition to the trade. He was 24 years old at the time of the deal and already had three years in the NHL, including a 40 point season. He was never able to reach those offensive heights while with Columbus but he settled in as a strong two way centre.
While Anisimov was good, the best player the Jackets received was Brandon Dubinsky. Dubinsky was a very good player with the Rangers. In his first four full seasons with the team he topped 20 goals and 40 points, peaking with a 30 goal 54 point season in 2010-11. He struggled in 2011-12 scoring just 10 goals and 34 points, and also apparently was not getting along with his head coach John Tortorella. The Jackets “bought low” on Dubinsky hoping that a change of scenery would be just what he needed, and they were right. Dubinsky had 20 points in 29 games in the lockout season and followed that up with a 50 point 2013-14 season as the Jackets returned to the playoffs. He continues to be a core member of the Jackets and a thorn in his opponent’s side.
The 2012 off-season was a monumental one for the Blue Jackets. Not only did they trade Rick Nash, they also acquired Sergei Bobrovsky and Nick Foligno in separate deals. Sure they only have one player remaining from the original Nash deal but they were able to use some of the pieces in future deals. The Jackets traded Erixson for Jeremy Morin, and then sent Morin along with Anisimov to Chicago for Brandon Saad. Saad as we all know was sent back to Chicago for Artemi Panarin. Harrington isn’t anything special he's been a serviceable player and good depth defencemen to have around.
It’s funny that after trading away Nash the Jackets didn’t enter a rebuild at all. They almost made the playoffs in the lockout year on the back of a Vezina winning season from Bobrovsky, before making the playoffs the following year. At the time the trade stung, you never want to see a star player leave, but there is no doubt the Blue Jackets have been better off since the trade.
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