Nash Signs 8-Year Extension
July 7th, 2009 | by sweetbob |
Feel that breeze? The Blue Jackets fans just sighed in relief. Their captain, Rick Nash, signed an 8-year/$62.4 million dollar deal to stay in Columbus. Many were speculating that Nash wanted to go to his hometown, Toronto, and play in Canada. He is still a young guy and he will have plenty of time to go north of the border and play in Canada once this contract is up. The extension doesn’t kick in until the 2010-11 season, so the Blue Jackets can put that behind them and start thinking about the current progress of the franchise.
This season, Nash led the team with 79 points in 78 games played. He scored 40 goals and helped lead the team to their first playoff appearance. He has 194 goals and 355 points in 441 career games. Those are impressive numbers considering that he was so young coming into the league and he has been double-teamed for most, if not all, of his career. He scored 3 goals in the Detroit series, but even with the losing effort, the Blue Jackets can build on the growth of this young team. Nash is only 25 years old and with Nikita Filiatov, Jakub Voracek, and Steve Mason all barely old enough to buy cigarettes, this team could be dangerous.
They don’t have much money to sign the big name free agents like a Marian Hossa, but if they land a good scoring defenseman, this team will make it out of the first round next season.
Tags: jakub voracek, nikita filatov, rick nash, steve mason
