Playing on consistently bad teams can sometimes have its advantages. For example, if you are a poor player, or just an otherwise good player having an off season, chances are you will face less scrutiny if everyone else around you is playing equally bad.
On the flipside, if you are a good player playing on disappointing teams, that generally makes you stand out all the more, thus increasing your perceived value to the league.
Rick Nash is the type of player that falls into the latter category. Able to carry the game on his shoulders when at the top of his game, Nash has been the sole consistent offensive leader for the Blue Jackets ever since his debut season in 2002. In fact, on some nights, he seems to be the only one trying.
Yet he does so without a whole lot of the league-wide recognition of which he is so deserving.
Nash is probably fine with that. Along with a lack of attention comes a serious lack of pressure to produce. But the problem is, he is producing. Pretty darn consistently, in fact, for a team that really has no one that even approaches his level of offense.
Players like Ovechkin and Malkin get so many goals b ...
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Article written by Aaron Tom
Rick Nash: The Best Hockey Player No One Is Talking About
November 19th, 2009 by Aaron Tom Leave a reply »
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