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NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE MEDIA CONFERENCEMarch 9, 2009Rick NashDAVID KEON: Good afternoon, everyone. I'm David Keon of the National Hockey League's public relations department and I'd like to welcome you to today's call. With us we have Columbus Blue Jackets forward Rick Nash. Thanks to Rick for taking the time today to answer your questions. Thanks to Todd Sharrock of the Blue Jackets' public relations staff for arranging this call. Earlier today Rick was named as the third star for this past week after recording four goals and two assists for six points as Columbus recorded two victories in three starts. On Saturday, Rick recorded his second hat trick of the season, ironically both against Detroit. He scored three unassisted goals in the Jackets 8-2 victory against the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena. The last player to record an unassisted hat trick was Maurice Rocket Richard back in 1948. Rick leads Columbus in scoring with 64 points on 31 goals, and a career-high 33 assists. He's on pace to break his single-season career high of 69 points set last season. The Blue Jackets currently sit sixth in the Western Conference with 72 points on a record of 33-27-6, as they prepare to host Boston tomorrow and Pittsburgh Thursday at Nationwide Arena. Thanks again to Rick for joining us today to answer your questions. We'll open it up now for questions. Q. Can you replay the three goals you got unassisted for us that didn't see the game. I'm sure you didn't carry the puck end to end in all three of those goals. RICK NASH: Yeah, definitely wasn't three end (indiscernible), as I'm sure the Rocket did it. First one was just picked off on a shorthanded goal. It was picked off at my blueline and took it down to a breakaway. Second one was just a turnover right in the slot from the Detroit Red Wing defenseman. The last one was just a shot coming down the wing, just a slapshot. It was actually a tip by their defenseman. Q. How do you put it into perspective when Rocket Richard got the last one, and that's over 60 years ago? Lot of hockey played in the last 60 years. You'd think somebody would have got it. RICK NASH: Yeah, you'd think that. It's pretty special. I didn't really realize they were all unassisted till after the game. You think about it, it's pretty tough to do. Even if you try to get an unassisted goal, usually one of your players always touches it. You know, it was pretty cool, pretty special honor to be named with a legend like him. Q. We've just been through an interesting couple of weeks where teams are on edge about who might get traded, what the new look might be. You come off of that tough week, get a new player in Vermette, and you have the best game in the history of your team against the Stanley Cup champion. I'm thinking about the leadership involved, your role as the captain. I wanted to ask you about the idea of bringing the team together, getting a win, the whole thing, as you go forward. RICK NASH: Yeah, it's been good lately. But obviously my past years here, things have been pretty tough, in tough situations. Usually right around now we're just playing for our self pride and for our fans' excitement. But to be able to play for a playoff spot, it's a great feeling. To kind of have my first full year as captain, helping bring this team together, which I think Scott Howson has done a great job. We're a tight group on the ice, but we're even tighter off the ice. I think that's important when you look at the teams around the league. Q. Back to Saturday's win over Detroit. Second time you've beaten them since the All-Star break. What is about that matchup that suits your team at this particular time? RICK NASH: Yeah, it seems like we're finding a way and a game plan that works to beat them. I think we just come to terms that we're not going to beat them with talent; the only way we're going to do it is with hard work. We've got all 22 guys in the dressing room convinced that's the way we're going to do it. That's how we win the games. Q. If it plays out that way, you do make the playoffs, get Detroit in the opening round, how would you feel about having to face the defending Stanley Cup champions right away? RICK NASH: Yeah, I mean, I think it would be a great fit for us, you know. Nice and close to home. But it's a matter of us just getting there, trying to get there in the last 16 games. Once we're there and we're in it, I don't think we're going to be too worried who we play. Q. I've been looking at the attendance figures for Columbus' home games. Seems like the crowds are getting bigger. Could you speak about the level of excitement this deep in the season for a fan base waiting for its first playoff team. RICK NASH: There seems to be a huge buzz right now around the city. I can only imagine if we actual made the playoffs, how big it would be. We've been in the city for eight years now. I think the fans are starting to get impatient, not having a playoff-bound team. Now that we've got a team that's pretty close and almost there, the seats are starting to fill again and everyone's excited. Q. The dynamics in the locker room, the way this franchise has kind of changed to another generation of players. Can you talk about the difference this year in the locker room maybe with this group of players versus in years past with some of the veteran mercenaries that were there for the Blue Jackets. RICK NASH: Yeah, I think it's been good. We have a younger group this year with kind of an older mix. All our older guys are tight with the younger guys. I think it's important for a young team, to have a young leader that they can relate to, kind of easy to talk to, come up and really tell them their problems or if they have any issues. We haven't had that this year, but we've had a tight group with a good mix of older guys and younger guys. Q. Looking at your win over Detroit and Nashville kind of blew the doors off the Red Wings a couple games ago, do you sense a lack of focus coming out of the defending champs right now? RICK NASH: I mean, they're obviously the best team in the league. They were the best team in the league last year, and they proved that. I think I read somewhere they made the playoffs, the top four spots, the last 17 years. I think they know exactly where they're at and what they're doing. I'm sure every team has a bad game here and there. Obviously had a couple bad ones against Nashville and ourselves with the big scores. But that's a team that is top in the league and they're going to get their act together when the time's right. Q. As far as the Blue Jackets, with the race in the west, on both sides, as tight as it is, how intense are these games? RICK NASH: Yeah, it's huge. You get a couple teams behind you, they have a three-point night, they can pull a spot ahead of you or tie with you. Every point is that valuable. We're at a good spot right now where we sort of control our own destiny. We got to make sure we get as many points as we can. Q. A lot of the issues surrounding the GM meetings are the violence, hits to the head, fighting. I wanted to see your opinion as far as if you think enough is being done with suspension to limit hits to the head? Also, does fighting still have a role in the NHL now? RICK NASH: It's nice, first of all, to see them crack down on shots to the head, things like that. Obviously you want to protect your players, mainly protect the life of your career. That's a valuable point to it, is your head. On the fighting issue, I think it's a huge part of hockey. It's a part of the sport. Whether there's a way they can make it more safer, I'm sure they're working on it, going to do everything they can. Certain things can happen, but I still believe it's a big part of the game. Q. Do you think there's any way to separate the fights that happen from the spontaneity of the game, as opposed to the two forces on each team setting out midway through the third period that they're going to square off? RICK NASH: Yeah, I mean, I think you still look at the enforcers, and there's a great handful of the guys that are great fighters in the league. I think you're seeing this new wave of players that play about 12, 13 minutes a game, and they can fight, too. Jarred Boll, Derek Dorsett, guys like Tyutin that also score goals, have big hits, but they can fight as well. Q. Talk about what R.J. Umberger and Kristian Huselius have done not only in regards to helping with scoring, but also if you're able to draw any experience off of them, how they've had to chase the playoffs in the past? RICK NASH: Yeah, he's been a huge help to us. Offensively he's having a breakout here. That's what we needed in Columbus, was help goal scoring. The fact he's another guy in the room that has been in the playoffs and been kind of deep in them is just all the more help we need because we have a bunch of young guys, including myself, that have never been in this situation at a professional level before. To have guys like him, guys like Peca, Modin, Commodore, these guys have been close to it, and some of them have won the Cup. So it's good to have these guys. Q. Since you haven't personally experience going to the playoffs, your relationship with Team Canada, are you able to feed or get anything out of that? RICK NASH: I'm going to have to. I don't have much to feed from other than that and junior, which is not the same. I'm sure once you make it to the playoffs, it's a whole different level. Playing for your country, whether it be Olympics or World Championships or stuff like that, is the only relation I could have. Whether it's the same, I can decide that after, if we do make it. Q. It's nice to put on the Canadian maple leaf, but are you tired of playing in the World Championships? Would you like to play in the playoffs in North America? RICK NASH: Obviously, it's kind of a bittersweet thing. My No. 1 goal is mainly to help the Columbus Blue Jackets get to the playoffs. But it's always fun playing for your country. Anytime you put to put on the red and white maple leaf, it's pretty special. Q. Ryan Smyth said that, too, but after a while it gets old. Just as soon go to the Stanley Cup final. RICK NASH: For sure. You know, you're with a team for nine months of a year. You want to go as far as you can with that team. But sometimes that's always not going to happen. It's a great honor to play for your country. But my answer is the same: number one, I want to go to the Stanley Cup finals. Q. Is it something in the water or how do you get two of your hat tricks against the same team? RICK NASH: I don't know. Good question. I wish I knew what I did before those games so I could do it before every game. I don't know. Just seemed to happen that way. Q. A lot of people are surprised when they see a goal-scoring champion skating on the penalty kill, especially a big man your size. Tell us about that area of your game and coordination with Vermette over the weekend. How important was the loss of Derick Brassard? Where do you think you might have been if he was able to play the whole year? RICK NASH: I didn't kill penalties before Hitch got here. When he got here, he explained to me he wanted me to be a complete player, not just meant to score goals. That means on the ice in the last minute if we're up a goal, down a goal, power-play, and penalty kill. I just found some good success killing penalties. Derick Brassard, he was a huge loss. Obviously I think he's still top 10 in rookie scoring and he's only played 25 games or something like that. He's going to be a big part of this franchise. It's tough to lose him in a year where we really could have used him. Everything went well with his rehab and things like that. I'm sure he'll be ready to go next year. Vermette has only been around for one game, a couple days, a couple practices. We didn't get to see much of him playing in the east. But he looks great. He looks fast. He looks strong. He's definitely going to bring some help on the power-play where we need it. Q. What is the mental approach for the team right now? Are you in the mindset where every game is a playoff game now? If so, how do you keep from getting completely mentally exhausted, being sort of new to this position? RICK NASH: Yeah, there's really a fine line that we got to control. We can't get exhausted at the time when we have to be having our best games. In saying that, we have to know how valuable these points are. We're leaning a lot on our coach and Hitchcock to help us through this, keep us fresh. And also the guys that have been there before know what it takes. These guys, like Modin and Peca and Commodore, they've been to the stretch all the way. We got to make sure there's a fine line there where if we need a day off, a couple of the guys need a day off, we get the day off. Or if guys need to skate and stay fresh, they need to do that. I think everyone on our team is on the same page with all that. DAVID KEON: Thank you very much, Rick, for your time today. RICK NASH: No problem. End of FastScripts |
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