NHL Trade Rumors: Rangers Smart to Back out of Rick Nash Trade

It appears the New York Rangers are backing out of the proposed Rick Nash trade, and it's a good thing, because the Columbus Blue Jackets were about to rob them blind. 

ESPN's Katie Strang, along with Nick Kypreos, first broke the news about the Rangers being unwilling to concede to Columbus' demands.

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#NYR Doesn't appear Rangers are willing to concede to CBJ demands. At this point, NYR considered out of running for Nash

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"— Katie Strang (@KatieStrangESPN) February 26, 2012"

Nash is certainly a talented player, but the package that New York would have had to give up was a whopper.

Let's take a closer look at what the trade would have entailed and why the Rangers are making the right move.

What New York would have given up

The proposed deal would have likely included Brandon Dubinsky, a first-round draft pick and one or two of Michael Del Zotto, Ryan McDonagh and Tim Erixon.

Dubinsky only has 25 points on the season and hasn't been quite as good as many were expecting, but he's still young and has shown lots of promise in former years. Nonetheless, he's expendable

Del Zotto and McDonagh are not.

Del Zotto is proving to be one of the better defenseman in the league, as he currently leads the Rangers in plus/minus with an impressive plus-25. That's good enough for third in the NHL. What's more, he's just 21 years old.

McDonagh is only 22, but is putting together an equally impressive season, as his plus/minus sits at plus-23. 

Oh, and by the way, they would still need to add a first-round pick on top of all that. That's a lot of young talent that is already producing at a high level.

What New York would have got in return

Rick Nash is a legitimate star. He is one of the top power forwards in the NHL and has six 30-goal seasons despite not having much help around him in Columbus.

He is a dominant force on the offensive end, and would immediately bolster a Rangers squad that is just 12th in the NHL in goals per game.

However, don't forget Nash still has six more years on his contract at $7.8 million per season, so he's one of the most expensive players in the league. He doesn't have much playoff experience and certainly comes with his question marks, no matter how good he is.

I would say New York has reportedly dodged the bullet.