Big name rumored to be available on the the trade market.

There's an absolutely insane rumor going around since comments made by Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman over the weekend.

During an segment with Hockey Night in Canada host Geroge Stroumboulopoulos Friedman indicated his belief that the New York Rangers could look to trade veteran forward Rick Nash.

“You’re going to hear a lot of wild rumours this year George, I think this is going to be a crazy season for them and one of the first to hit is Rick Nash of the New York Rangers,” Friedman said as per Sportsnet. “He has a 12-team list that he can be dealt to and there seems to be a little bit of smoke to this one. I think they’ve been asked. I think they’d be willing to do it under the right circumstances."

Obviously the question becomes what would be the right circumstances? The first thought would be a contender looking to add a final piece to their offense in order to win it all, but how realistic is that when you factor that Nash carries a cap hit of $7.8 million for next season as well as the one after that. Many contenders would hesitate at that kind of hit to their cap space if they were to take on that kind of contract, even in a scenario that involved the Rangers opting to retain a large portion of his salary. 

How the Rangers can pull this off may not be clear, but Sportsnet's John Shannon may have hinted at the motivation for the move, the Rangers may be looking to make space for a large addition in free agency this summer, Shannon seems to believe the Rangers could be part of the bidding war for Steven Stmakos.

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