Detroit Red Wings made a "hell of an offer" to Columbus for Rick Nash. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view), Jackets GM Scott Howson turned it down without so much as a counter offer. The obvious conclusion is that Howson’s simply not interested in dealing with a fellow Central Division team.
Grand Rapids - July 18, 2012 - Ansar Khan’s got an excitable source that says the Detroit Red Wings made a "hell of an offer" to Columbus for Rick Nash. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view), Jackets GM Scott Howson turned it down without so much as a counter offer.
The obvious conclusion is that Howson’s simply not interested in dealing with a fellow Central Division team. But because Khan’s source didn’t pass on the terms of the offer, we have to take his word for it that it was significant.
Whether "significant" in the Wings' eyes is equivalent to the kinds of demands Howson has reportedly been making in trade talks is another question.
Taking the source’s word for it leads Ansar to speculate that it might have involved at least one of two guys: Johan Franzen and Valtteri Filppula. Unsurprising, as just about any Wings watcher would name those two, though for different reasons.
Franzen because he’s the first guy up front that comes to mind as one Wings fans could live without. And Filppula because he’s the probably the best forward on the team that’s not on virtually everybody’s untouchable list (because not every forward can be on that list).
Of the two, Fil’s likely the most realistically tradeable. But neither is likely to tempt a GM like Scott Howson (read: a bad, annoyed one) with an asset like Rick Nash on his trading block, even if packaged with some fluff from the Wings’ third and fourth lines. Nash has forced Columbus into trading him and Howson, a poor general manager in the best of times, is busy outdoing himself here (Nash isn’t doing him any favors with his List, either).
My guess is about the only offer that would cause Howson to give Ken Holland the time of day would involve one of the Wings’ franchise equivalents to Nash: Henrik Zetterberg or Pavel Datsyuk.
And that’s just not going to happen.
Matt Saler grew up in the Detroit area as a hardcore Red Wings fan and started On the Wings in 2003. He has an interest in League issues, but his primary focus is the Wings. If you have questions or wish to contact Matt, you can email him at msaler@ourhometown.ca
3,472 Stories & Growing Daily...
To date HometownHockey.ca has posted a total of 3,472 hockey stories!
HometownHockey.ca offers a very generous revenue sharing opportunity for our Columnists. If you are interested in learning more details about writing for us, please send us an EMAIL.
