According to Rick Nash and his agent, the new Rangers winger has no plans to play for Swiss club HC Davos in the event of a lockout. They were refuting a report from Swiss sports network RTS Sports on Thursday that said Nash and San Jose's Joe Thornton would likely play for the team this fall if a new CBA isn't completed. The players will be locked out if a new deal can't be reached by Sept. 15 and in 2004-05 several of them headed over to Europe to continue playing.

Rick Nash bought ad space in the Columbus Dispatch to thank Blue Jackets fans for their support. Nash requested a trade before the 2011-12 trade deadline and was finally moved to the New York Rangers this summer. "Dear Blue Jackets fans," Nash said in his ad, "Thank you for the unwavering support you have shown me over the past nine seasons. I am so fortunate to have had the chance to call Columbus home and to say proudly that I am from the Buckeye state. Thanks for the Memories. Thanks for everything."

Rick Nash isn't worried about making the transition from the Columbus Blue Jackets to a big market like the New York Rangers. "I think I'll embrace it great," Nash said of the pressure that will come with playing in New York. "I think in 2010 I had the most pressure on me whatsoever with the Olympics being in our home country. I feel like hockey is truly a passion here where they expect the same of a championship-caliber team. I think they've done everything they can as an organization to put that together. I think pressure is a great thing if you use it in the right way." Playing alongside players like Brad Richards and, when he recovers from shoulder surgery, Marian Gaborik should help Nash have one of the best seasons of his career.

Rangers general manager Glen Sather couldn't pass up the opportunity to acquire a world-class talent like Rick Nash. Add that to the fact leading scorer Marian Gaborik could be out until November, and it seemed like only a matter of time before Sather got his man. "This quality of hockey player doesn't come along very often," Sather said. "The opportunity was here before the trade deadline, we couldn't make it go, we always felt like we would like to have a little more offense, especially with (last season's leading scorer Marian) Gaborik being out until at least November after shoulder surgery." Nash called the Rangers a "great fit for [his] style."

The Rangers have acquired Rick Nash from the Blue Jackets in exchange for Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, Tim Erixon and a first-round pick. The Rangers also acquired a conditional third-round pick and a minor-league defenseman Steve Delisle. New York coveted the power forward who wanted out of Columbus even before the trading deadline and seemed all along to be the heavy favorites, despite rumors involving a handful of other teams. The 28-year-old Nash is a star player and gives the Rangers, who finished first in the East, a top goal scorer they lacked and became even more apparent in the playoffs. Nash has two 40-goal seasons on his resume and has scored 30 or more in seven of his nine campaigns. The forward had 59 points on a weak Columbus team last year, but he has also posted 60 or more points in four seasons. Even better for New York: it didn't part ways with any of its untouchable young players. Nash has six more years left on his contract that calls for a $7.8 million cap hit.

TSN's Darren Dreger is reporting that the Rangers have acquired Rick Nash from the Blue Jackets. Details of the trade have not been released, but Dreger does say the deal is complete pending the trade call. Derek Stepan is one player Dreger has pointed out as not being included in this package.

If the Philadelphia Flyers succeed in their efforts to get Shea Weber, there's a chance that the New York Rangers might respond by renewing their pursuit of Rick Nash. Philadelphia and Weber agreed to an offer sheet and are waiting to see if Nashville will accept it. The Rangers might alternatively decide to counter by going after Shane Doan or Bobby Ryan.

The San Jose Sharks are not currently believed to be in talks with the Columbus Blue Jackets for Rick Nash. Columbus reportedly wants Logan Couture as part of a Nash trade, which is understandably a non-starter. In the salary cap era, you could make a decent argument for Couture alone being worth more than Nash, given the fact that he's younger, coming off a better season, and is much cheaper. For now, no Nash trade appears to be imminent, but things can change quickly.

One of the reasons teams might be unwilling to trade for Rick Nash is because of the uncertainty surrounding the CBA. It's hard for a team to figure out if they can afford Nash's $7.8 million annual cap when they don't know what the 2012-13 ceiling will be. Until a new CBA is reached, teams might bulk at trading away key prospects and current NHLers for a guy that might prove to be undesirable from a salary cap perspective when the season starts. Unfortunately, this is another reason why the Blue Jackets might be put in the awkward situation of entering training camp with Nash.

Trade talks regarding Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash have gone cold in recent days, The Columbus Dispatch reports. It has been a long, arduous process - now in its sixth month - and Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson has not come close to trading Nash, who wants badly to be traded to a better team. Howson, who has a reputation for extreme patience, seems more resolute than ever. He has insisted since February, when he first made Nash's trade request public, that he will only do a deal when the deal is right for the Blue Jackets. "There's no timetable by which we have to make moves," Columbus general manager Scott Howson said. "There are no deadlines. We're going to continue to work at this. A trade with Rick will happen when we get the right value - when and if we get the right value." Nash has been on the block through the trade deadline in February and the NHL draft last month. It might just be that he starts next season with the Blue Jackets, which, The Columbus Dispatch noted, would be very awkward.