In late July of last year, the Winnipeg Jets signed veteran forward, Riley Nash, to a one-year contract with an average annual value of $750,000 in anticipation of the 2021-2022 season.
Nash who was beginning his eleventh season in the NHL was expected to play a bottom-six role for the Jets.
Fast forward a couple of months and Nash only appeared in 15 of the Jets’ first 24 regular season games and he was subsequently put on waivers.
The back-to-back Stanley Cup champions, the Tampa Bay Lightning, decided to claim the thirty-two-year-old off of waivers, but that was not Nash’s last time switching teams this season.
Just after a month after Tampa claimed Nash, he was then again put back on waivers and this time the Arizona Coyotes claimed him.
Nash then played 24 games with the Coyotes and at the trade deadline, he was traded back to Tampa for future considerations.
Former Winnipeg Jets forward, Riley Nash has advanced to the 2022 Stanley Cup Finals with the Tampa Bay Lightning
In what has been a crazy season for Nash involving him playing for three different teams including two stints for one team and even some time in the AHL with the Syracuse Crunch, the forward has a chance to win a Stanley Cup for the first time in his career.
Nash has only played in four 2022 postseason games for the Lightning and all of those games were in their Eastern Conference series win, that they closed out last night, against the New York Rangers.
Nash was put into the lineup for game three against the Rangers and, although he has not recorded any points and has not played over ten minutes in any game, Tampa has not lost a game when Nash is in the lineup.
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It will be interesting to see if Nash is still in the lineup when the Stanley Cup Finals begin on Wednesday night as the Lightning face off against the Colorado Avalanche. Especially when you consider the fact that Brayden Point has a great chance of returning to the lineup after being sidelined with an injury.
Winnipeg Jets Fans: Looking back, do you think it was a smart move by the Winnipeg Jets to send Nash to waivers this season? Leave your comments below!
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