"With respect to Rick Nash. He approached us and asked us to consider trading him," Howson said. "We agreed to accomodate his request, as long as we could get a deal that would provide us with cornerstone pieces to help us compete with a Stanley Cup championship in the coming years.
"This is too important to our franchise and our fans to do a deal that is not in our best interest. We pursued a number of options, but none provided the value back that we could justify to trading a player of Rick's caliber."
The New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs and San Jose Sharks were among the teams highly interested in Nash, but all balked at the high asking price. Around 1:30pm ET, each team revisited discussions, but a deal was not ironed out.
It's believed the Blue Jackets will look to move Nash in the off-season, with a deal expected to occur closer to the NHL Entry Draft in late-June in Pittsburgh.
Nash will address the media tomorrow.
More Trade Deadline Info
List of Trades
| No-Trade/No-Movement Clauses
| Top 25 Available Players
| Team-by-Team Cap Info
