COLUMBUS, OHIO -- The Columbus Blue Jackets announced today that left wing Rick Nash has been named team captain. Currently playing in his fifth National Hockey League season, he has been one of the club's alternate captains since the start of the 2005-06 season. He becomes the fifth captain in franchise history, joining Lyle Odelein, Ray Whitney, Luke Richardson and Adam Foote.
Nash, 23, leads the Blue Jackets in scoring this season with a career-high 58 points on 35 goals and 23 assists in 68 games. He currently ranks seventh in the NHL in goals and is tied for fifth with four shorthanded goals, which is also tied for the most in club history (David Vyborny, 2003-04). He is six goals and seven assists shy of matching his career highs in both of those categories.
The first overall pick of the 2002 Entry Draft, Nash has registered 151-114-265 points and 372 penalty minutes in 351 career games with the Blue Jackets. He is the franchise's all-time leader in goals, power play goals (55), game-winning goals (23) and shots on goal (1,083), ranks second in points (265) and assists (114) and stands fourth in games played (351).
The Brampton, Ontario native has appeared in three-consecutive All-Star Games, tallying 5-2-0 with a hat trick in this year's game at Philips Arena in Atlanta. Nash won the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy as the NHL's top goal scorer in 2003-04, becoming the youngest player in NHL history to lead the league in goals (19 yrs.), and was a finalist for the Calder Memorial Trophy as NHL Rookie of the Year in 2002-03. He represented Canada at the 2006 Olympic Games, led Canada to a gold medal and was the Most Valuable Player at the 2007 World Championships and was an All-Tournament pick and silver medalist at the 2005 World Championships.
