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“If he wants to, Rick Nash will be GM of the Blue Jackets one day”
Credit: Photo by Jari Pestelacci/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images
The Blue Jackets organization is still relatively young. Barely two years older than me, who was born in 2002, Columbus has been a Bettman Circuit club since 2000.

Its young history hasn’t been marked by many good players, but Rick Nash was probably the best in the concession’s history. He was drafted first overall in the 2002 draft. He played nine years (674 games) in Ohio.

A stint marked by outstanding leadership, 289 goals and 547 points. To this day, he still leads the franchise in points. Cam Atkinson and Nick Foligno are a long way behind the forward, with 402 and 364 points respectively.

So, like Daniel Brière (Flyers) and Alex Steen (Blues), the way is paved for him to become general manager of the franchise with which he has enjoyed the most success.

Does he want to be GM? That’s the question, because as Elliotte Friedman said on The Jeff Marek Show, “we believe that one day, he will be the boss of the Jackets”.

Is Waddell’s hiring a transition to a Nash-led club? Will he use the former GM as a mentor, a bit like Barry Trotz with David Poile and Alex Steen with Doug Armstrong?

We don’t know the official answer, as it hasn’t been publicly disclosed, but Jeff Marek seems to believe that yes, Nash will be the successor one day.

Waddell discussed this very option a few days earlier on Frank Seravalli’s Frankly Speaking podcast.

He’s not at all stressed about Nash’s aspirations; on the contrary, he’s happy that a guy who decided to move to Columbus after his field hockey career wants to climb the organization’s ladder and help it win its first NHL Stanley Cup.

Overtime

– Are you ready?

– I can’t wait to see this.

– Real comedians.

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