Rick Nash Trade Rumors: Flyers Loss to Penguins Proves Trade Would Be Insanity

For the Philadelphia Flyers, Saturday was anything but a day full of surprises.

Two glaring weaknesses in Philadelphia’s game are goaltending and performance during weekend matinee games. And Saturday’s 6-4 loss to the Penguins was a perfect display of both of these problems.

The game was preceded by Rick Nash-to-Philly rumors picking up steam, as Columbus GM Scott Howson was on hand for the game, presumably in a scouting role. The Blue Jackets winger recently became available, assuming that he would waive his no-trade clause.

The Flyers have been one of the teams in the mix, despite the fact that Philly reportedly did not make Nash’s list of teams for which he would waive his NTC.

Anytime a player of Nash’s caliber becomes available, interest is piqued across the league, particularly among the most competitive of teams. Nash has been a 70-point player despite playing for one of the most consistently terrible NHL squads since being drafted first overall in 2002. Current rumors have the Flyers parting with everyone from Sean Couturier and Brayden Schenn to James van Riemsdyk and Sergei Bobrovsky, plus draft picks or another player.

Despite the rampant rumors, the hypothetical trade seemed to be a long shot coming into Saturday’s game against the Penguins. By the end of the embarrassing beatdown at the hands of Dan Byslma’s squad, the Flyers had accomplished one very important task.

They proved that Rick Nash will do nothing to help this Flyers team.

The Flyers scored four goals in the game, the kind of total that should be enough to earn a team two points at the end of a game. Instead, the offense put up four goals despite a deflating performance by the team’s most important defensive players, starting with goalies Ilya Bryzgalov and Sergei Bobrovsky.

Bryzgalov allowed two shorthanded goals late in the third period, including a 3-on-5 tally by Matt Cooke that could have been easily prevented with a little bit of aggression. Bobrovsky similarly sucked the life out of the team by allowing a soft goal to Pascal Dupuis off his own skate to give the Pens a 5-3 lead. A terrible turnover by All-Star defenseman Kimmo Timonen earlier in the period led to a Dustin Jeffrey goal that gave Pittsburgh a lead that would last the rest of the game.

The Flyers had a power-play tally and three additional goals in the game yet seemed unable to shut down the Penguins enough for Bryzgalov and Bobrovsky to make easy saves.

How would Nash help?

Would he make the Flyers offense more potent? Certainly. But at some point, Paul Holmgren needs to admit that the offense is far from being the problem, and more importantly, with Claude Giroux, Schenn, Couturier and Matt Read on the roster, the offense will not be much of a problem for many, many years.

What the team needs is a goaltender—and defensive corps—consistent and reliable enough that the offense doesn’t need to score five, six, seven or more goals to win an important game.

In that regard, the Flyers have a major dilemma on their hands. Bryzgalov’s nine-year, $51 million deal is unlikely to go anywhere anytime soon. Backup Bobrovsky is developing, but at a frustratingly erratic rate. Captain and top defenseman Chris Pronger is injured for a time period somewhere between “the remainder of this season’ and “until the end of time.” Braydon Coburn has done little to earn his four-year, $18 million extension since signing it in November, and Andrej Meszaros’ offensive contributions have failed to make up for his defensive lapses this season.

Nash, for all his potential scoring contributions and leadership, will be nothing more than another extensive, expensive, difficult-to-move contract on the Flyers' books that complicate the team’s efforts to build a strong blue line and deal with the never-ending goaltending issues.

This team’s mission is not to have a roster full of players with recognizable names on the backs of the jerseys, it is to build a team of 20 players who are capable of getting their names etched into the Stanley Cup.

Nash would be an offensive force, a positive influence on the team and a player the franchise can be proud of. But this team did not lack those characteristics in Saturday’s game against Pittsburgh. Instead, the Flyers need responsible defensemen and a goalie who can make the saves he is supposed to make.

A Flyers team with Nash still would not have beaten the Penguins this afternoon. Focus needs to shift from the player who is the hot topic to the players who fill this team’s needs.

Can we go back to talking the Ryan Suter rumor to death instead? At least that one made sense.