NHL Trade Rumors: Blue Jackets Wise to Play Rick Nash on Day Before Deadline

The Columbus Blue Jackets decided to play star forward Rick Nash today despite the swirl of rumors surrounding the team's captain ahead of tomorrow afternoon's NHL trade deadline.

Playing a star the day before the deadline has its risks, including the possibility of injury, but the Blue Jackets were not afraid as they played Nash and he responded with a shorthanded goal in a 4-2 defeat to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

TSN's Bob McKenzie had an interesting take on the situation today, via Twitter:

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Obviously possible Rick Nash could move by tomorrow but it were close in any way do you think CBJ would've played him today? #TradeCentre

— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) February 26, 2012"

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May be a tactic by CBJ, or not, but teams with most interest in Nash don't believe he'll move by deadline. Switching focus to other targets.

— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) February 26, 2012"

As we inch closer to Monday afternoon's trade deadline, the chances of Nash being traded seem to be diminishing. If teams who have been rumored to be interested in him, such as the New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs really wanted to acquire Nash, it probably would have been done this weekend.

It's not smart to delay major moves to deadline day because if they don't work out, you usually don't have enough time to switch gears and make another impact trade.

It's possible that Nash won't be moved and that's why he played over 20 minutes on the top line for the Blue Jackets today, but it's impossible to know for sure.

The teams with the most interest—again the Leafs and Rangers—either don't need Nash, have other areas of more concern, or the price to acquire him was too high.

According to Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet, the Rangers will no longer pursue a trade for Nash. New York did not want to give up top defensemen such as young talents Michael Del Zotto or Ryan McDonagh. Rangers general manager Glen Sather also didn't want to part with top prospect Chris Kreider.

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#SNtrade. Going into Sunday nite, its sounding like #Rangers have backed out on the Nash sweepstakes. #Bluejackets demands remain too rich.

— Nick Kypreos (@RealKyper) February 26, 2012"

This is a smart move by the Rangers, they have a great amount of team chemistry and giving up young talent for Nash—who they don't even need—would have been a mistake.

For Toronto, their real issue is goaltending and although Nash would definitely help their offense, he won't be able to keep pucks out of the net. If Leafs general manager Brian Burke is going to make any moves at the deadline, it should be for a goalie such as Josh Harding of the Minnesota Wild or Evgeni Nabokov of the New York Islanders.

The Blue Jackets were smart to demand a high price for Nash, but there won't be many teams willing to make a bold move for him when giving up multiple top-tier prospects is required.

Moving him at the draft is probably the most likely scenario for Columbus, especially when there's a good chance many more teams could be interested at that time.

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Nicholas Goss is a Boston Bruins Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and was the organization's on-site reporter for the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals in Boston.