Why Rick Nash’s injury is a complicated situation for Rangers

The Rick Nash watch continues. But it’s as if the hands of the clock aren’t moving. Perhaps they will next summer.

It’s been a strange, disappointing season for Nash who hasn’t played a minute since being injured in the third period of the Jan. 22 game in Carolina and will miss his 12th consecutive game Sunday night, with no timetable for a return.

Remember, this is a player who scored 42 goals last year and had his most productive playoff run ever, with five goals and 14 points in 19 games.

The status of the power forward, who has a deep, painful bone bruise in his left leg and is working out off-ice, remains week-to-week, coach Alain Vigneault repeated Saturday.

There’s no doubt that the team expected the top-six winger to be back on the ice far sooner, and his absence, which stretched through the All-Star break and is closing in on a month, raises the question of whether the 31-year-old can fully contribute next month, in April, or at all.

The Rangers apparently believe that Nash, who with 12 goals is on pace for his first full season of 20 goals or fewer since 2006-07 with Columbus (27), will be back in due time, and valuable.

Or perhaps they are waiting for the right moment to place him on long-term injured reserve, a move that would, at least temporarily, open some salary-cap space.

Logically, management would do that before the Feb. 29th trade deadline, and bring in another top-six forward in his place, such as Eric Staal, Andrew Ladd or Patrick Marleau, all of whose names have surfaced as potential rentals or acquisitions. Naturally, given the injury, Nash is not being traded.

That’s the short-term picture.

It makes sense that new general manager Jeff Gorton should explore a trade this summer.

Nash’s contract, with a $7.8 million cap hit for two more seasons, softened last July when a no-move clause transitioned to a no-trade clause; he now has a list of 12 teams to which he would agree to be dealt. One of them is most-assuredly St. Louis, where the coach is Ken Hitchcock, who shares a mutual admiration with Nash.

Who comes back? There’s been speculation for a year about Kevin Shattenkirk, 27, a right-handed defenseman, who presumably can’t be swapped before the trade deadline with the Blues missing stud blueliner Alex Pietrangelo with a knee injury. Shattenkirk, from New Rochelle, has a year left on his contract and due to earn $4.25 million in 2016-17 before becoming a free agent.

The Blues will have cap space in the summer, with UFAs David Backes, Troy Brouwer and two other forwards carrying about $9.7 million in salaries. A Nash deal wouldn’t be a straight up swap, with other parts in a package.

To be sure, Nash has been productive in his four seasons in New York since acquired from the Blue Jackets, essentially for Brandon Dubinsky and Artem Anisimov, with 101 goals and 183 points in 233 games.

But he has not helped put them over the top: In 56 playoff games on Broadway, he has just nine goals and 29 points.

Nash and his wife now have a young son, and summer homes in Columbus and the lake district of Muskoka, Ontario.

Maybe it’s time for a change of scenery for both sides.

Change the Rules on Match Penalties

When a team loses a player after an intent-to-injure match penalty, including illegal blows to the head, it isn’t compensated enough with a weak suspension of the offending player. The injured player is unable to play, often longer than the suspension. And the provocateur often is back on the ice before the victim.

Among the remedies floated over the years, here’s couple of my endorsements to directly benefit the team at a loss. What good is a suspension when a team plays without the attacker against other opponents?

Any suspension should apply to future games against the injured player’s team, and the match penalty should be increased to 10 minutes, to allow for an immediate reward, in that game, with a longer power play.

World Cup selections approaching

The World Cup of Hockey is coming.

The first sixteen players for the 23-man rosters for each of the eight teams are to be named on March 2. The tournament, with six National teams (Canada, U.S., Sweden, Russia, Czech Republic, Finland), a Team Europe and a Team North America (with players under age 24), begins Sept. 17 in Toronto.

Projections for Rangers selectees?

The first three are locks: Henrik Lundqvist (Sweden); Ryan McDonagh (U.S.) Mats Zuccarello (Team Europe).

No. 4. Derek Stepan (U.S.) is on the bubble, but being a center and penalty-killer adds to his value. May be among the last seven Americans named before rosters are finalized.

No. 5 Rick Nash (Team Canada). Only if he’s healthy and rebounds later this season. Nash brings size and possession skills on the PK and a ton of international experience and success (gold medals in last two Olympics).

No. 6 Antti Raanta (Team Finland). A reach, but potentially a third goalie behind Pekka Rinne and Tuukka Rask.