The Columbus Blue Jackets would like to obtain established forwards in exchange for star forward Rick Nash, who has asked to be traded. "If we do complete a trade, we're trading out a 30- to 40-goal scorer," Columbus general manager Scott Howson said. "Defense is probably the strongest part of our team as we look at it today, so we're looking to get some NHL forwards back first and foremost." Howson said he has no timetable to make a deal. He said he has talked to "a number of teams." He also said: "We don't have a deadline. Rick's under contract and we'll continue to work at this, we'll continue to keep Rick in the loop . and we'll just hope that we get a resolution to this." Nash, who has played all nine of his NHL seasons in Columbus, has a salary-cap value of $7.8 million for the next six seasons, according to CapGeek.com.