My Attempt to Sell Ricky to Pessimistic, yet Informed Fans

Ok, here it goes.

• Saying he’s "The New Messiah" is an overstatement. But, saying that this move can be filed under ‘Rangers Acquiring Another Over-Paid Star For The Broadway Show’ would be selling Rick Nash way short.
• Instead, I think its fair to say that the New York Rangers just added one of the best offensive weapons in the NHL who be playing with (for the first time in his career) other top offensive weapons. Notice I didn't call this guy a superstar. In fact, it is scientifically impossible for anyone to become a superstar in Columbus. Its just physics. However, if his goal total holds up, his assists increase, and our team has success, a superstar he will be.
• Ricky has scored at least 30 goals in 7 of 9 NHL seasons. This past year was the 5th consecutive season he did so. One of them being over the blocker side of Hank late in the 3rd to send the game into OT. I don't like to rely on numbers and a lot of my argument has to be based on ignoring a few stats, so forget the stats for a second and watch him play the game. After doing so, you will notice his size, stick handling, and goal scoring instincts are second to none on our team.
  

Ok so there's Ricky. Now, what we lost.

• On losing Dubi and AA. They will be missed for sure. The defense and PKing these guys brought to the table was vital to our success. On the other hand, one more poor season out of these two would have crippled any value they had. Especially Dubi, with his contract. It was an opportunity to avoid the gamble, and Sather took it.
• On Erixon: This just sucks. I really wanted to see this guy develop. If he's the reason you're upset about the trade, I can dig it. Still though, we didn't need another project on our blue line as bad as we needed an offensive catalyst to improve the PP.
  
• On Rupp's mysterious 1st Rnd friend: He's irrelevant.
  

To the fans who think we gave to much: You might be too close to this to be able to analyze it properly. That is, your emotions are interfering with your logic. Probably from a result of three things.

1. The attachment you've developed with AA and Dubi.
2. The scars the franchise has left many of us with, after trading for/signing under-performing big name players.
3. You're protecting yourselves from a letdown. Better to say, "I told you so" rather than feel your hopes and dreams shatter.

Take a chance and get excited people. And if you haven't noticed yet, he's not Nash anymore. He's Ricky.

Yes Moshe, I've read the article about how Ricky sucks. I've seen the 5v5 numbers with AA putting up more points. I've also seen the regression in his point production. Lucky for us, hockey is a real life sport that's not predicted by numbers and calculators. Bring it.