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With the Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets entering the NHL as expansion teams in 2000, each new franchise sought to build via the draft. In early years, the Wild and Blue Jackets drafted Marian Gaborik and Rick Nash, respectively, with high first-round draft picks to serve as franchise cornerstone players. Each forward eventually went on to have an illustrious career with the team that drafted him, sitting at or near the top of various career offensive categories, e.g. goals scored. Moreover, the duo had similar overall career lengths and statistics, thus making for an interesting comparison:
Who was better – Marian Gaborik or Rick Nash?
The Beginning
Both hailing from countries with rich hockey traditions, Gaborik and Nash were elite prospects who were taken with top-three draft picks (#1 in Nash’s case) and did not disappoint, showing flashes of immediate brilliance in their rookie campaigns.
A native of the former Czechoslovakia (in what is now Slovakia), Gaborik grew up playing hockey with the Dukla Trencin junior team before graduating on to the senior team in the Slovak Extraliga. Following two seasons with the team, he was the first-ever draft pick of the expansion Wild franchise, going third overall in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft behind goalie Rick DiPietro and forward Dany Heatley. As a rookie, Gaborik had a solid season with 18 goals and 18 assists for 36 points with a -6 +/- rating to finish seventh for the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie.
Similarly, the Canadian-born Nash grew up in Ontario and would play his junior hockey with the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). Following an illustrious junior career, he was selected #1 overall in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft by the Blue Jackets, a couple of years after the team had entered the NHL along with Minnesota in 2000. During his rookie season, Nash put up 17 goals and 22 assists for 39 points, albeit with a -27 +/- rating, to finish third in Calder Trophy voting.
Career Comparison
Explosive offensive forces in their respective primes, Gaborik and Nash were both impacted by a variety of health issues throughout their careers; each ultimately moved on from the original team that drafted them and would go on to compile 800+ career points.
Gaborik quickly grew into the star player Minnesota had envisioned, following up on his rookie season with consecutive 30-goal campaigns in 2001-2002 (30 goals and 37 assists) and 2002-2003 (30 goals and 35 assists). After a contract holdout limited him to 65 games in 2003-2004, he returned to play for Dukla Trencin for the lockout; upon his NHL return, Gaborik was limited by injuries to 65 and 48 games played over the next few seasons, though averaged over a point per game (66 and 57 points, respectively, with at least 30 goals each season). Finally healthy in 2007-2008, he had a career-best year with the Wild, scoring 42 goals with 41 assists for 83 points (highlighted by a 5-goal, 6-point game vs. the New York Rangers) and a +17 +/- rating to finish 11th in the Hart Trophy voting for MVP while also wearing the captain’s “C” for the first time. However, injuries limited him to just 17 games played during the 2008-2009 season; as a free agent after eight seasons in Minnesota, Gaborik signed with the Rangers in the offseason, leaving as the Wild’s all-time career leader in goals, assists, and points.
During his three-and-half-seasons with the Rangers, Gaborik was productive when healthy, with his health being a big “if”. In his inaugural campaign in New York in 2009-2010, he set career-highs with 42 goals and 44 assists for 86 points plus a +15 +/- rating, but dipped to just 48 points in 62 games the next year. Once again, he rebounded in 2011-2012 with 41 goals and 35 assists for 76 points and a +15 +/- rating. Midway through the 2012-2013 season, though, Gaborik was dealt with minor leaguers Blake Parlett and Steven Delisle to the Blue Jackets for Derick Brassard, Derek Dorsett, John Moore, and a sixth-round draft pick, and only played 47 games total for the season. Less than a year later, he was on the move once again, this time to the Los Angeles Kings for Matt Frattin and a couple of draft picks.
Across parts of five seasons with the Kings, the tune remained the same with Gaborik – productive when he played, but besieged by injuries. In fact, he never suited up for more than 69 games in a season with Los Angeles (2014-2015) and that was the only season he played more than 60 games, though he did reach 400 career goals in a Kings uniform; not surprisingly, it was his most productive season in California with 27 goals and 20 assists for 47 points with a +7 +/- rating. Finally, in 2017-2018, he was traded with Nick Shore to the Ottawa Senators for Dion Phaneuf and Nate Thompson; though his rights were later dealt to the Tampa Bay Lightning, Gaborik last played an NHL game at age 35 during that 2017-2018 season.
Likewise, Nash erupted in his second NHL season in 2003-2004 to score 41 goals and win the Richard Trophy as the league’s top goal-scorer in a three-way tie with Jarome Iginla and Ilya Kovalchuk, though only added 16 assists for 57 points and a putrid -35 +/- rating; moreover, he became the youngest-ever player at age 19 to lead the league in goals scored. After playing for HC Davos in the Swiss Nationalliga A during the 2003-2005 lockout, he returned with another 30-goal season in 2005-2006 (31 goals and 23 assists). Though Nash dipped to 27 goals (though with 30 assists) in 2006-2007, he would then post five straight 30-goal seasons with the Blue Jackets, including a career-best season in 2008-2009 in which he also took over as Columbus’ captain: with 40 goals and 39 assists for a career-best 79 points plus a +11 +/- rating, he finished 13th for the Hart Trophy. However, despite another consistently strong year in 2011-2012 (30 goals and 29 assists for 59 points, but with a -19 +/- rating), the struggling Blue Jackets decided to cash in their biggest asset and traded Nash, Steven Delisle, and a draft pick to the Rangers for Artem Anisimov, Brandon Dubinsky, Tim Erixon, and a first-round draft pick; Nash would leave Columbus as the career leader in most offensive categories, including goals, assists, and points.
Given a fresh start in the Big Apple, Nash responded during the shortened 2012-2013 season with 42 points (21 goals and 21 assists) in 44 games. Though injuries and ineffectiveness limited him to just 39 points the next season, he rebounded with one of his best campaigns in 2014-2015: with a career-high 42 goals plus 27 assists for 69 points and a career-high +29 +/- rating, Nash finished seventh for the Hart Trophy. However, this would be his last great season – while he did play 60-70 games annually the next couple of seasons, he would never eclipse the 25-goal or 40-point mark again, though did reach 400 career goals. Traded to the Boston Bruins during the 2017-2018 season for a package of Ryan Spooner, Matt Beleskey, Ryan Lindgren, and draft picks, Nash retired at age 34 at the end of the season due to recurring concussion issues.
While Gaborik played more NHL seasons than Nash (17 vs. 15), the latter actually played slightly more regular season games due to better health. Over an essentially equal number of games played (~1,000+ apiece), Nash was the better goal-scorer, but Gaborik tallied more assists and points with a superior career +/- rating; double-clicking into their individual seasons, Nash racked up more 30 and 40-goal seasons (8x vs. 7x and 3x vs. 2x, respectively), whereas Gaborik had more 80-point seasons (2 to 0) and a higher points-per-game average (0.79 vs. 0.76). Interestingly, these numbers translated into more All-Star Game selections for Nash (6 vs. 3) and the only piece of individual hardware between the two, that being his Richard Trophy. Overall, both forwards had very good NHL careers, but the lack of longevity and fewer than 500 career goals and/or 1,000 career points likely keeps each of them out of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Regular Season Statistics
| Marian Gaborik | Player | Rick Nash |
| 17 (2000-2018) | Seasons | 15 (2002-2018) |
| 1,035 | Games Played | 1,060 |
| 407 | Goals | 437 |
| 408 | Assists | 368 |
| 815 | Points | 805 |
| +95 | +/- | -11 |
| 3x | All-Star Games | 6x |
| – | Hart Trophies | – |
| – | Ross Trophies | – |
| 1x | Stanley Cups | – |
| – | Conn Smythes | – |
| – | Other Awards | 1x Richard |
| – | Hall of Fame Induction | – |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
Though neither Gaborik nor Nash went deep in the playoffs with his original team, both experienced greater success later on. In fact, the two met in the 2013-2014 Stanley Cup Finals, when Gaborik’s Kings defeated Nash’s Rangers in five games; on one hand, Gaborik was outstanding with a playoff-high 14 goals plus 8 assists for 22 points and a +6 +/- rating, while on the other hand, Nash was so-so with 3 goals and 7 assists for 10 points and a -1 +/- rating in the playoffs.
Overall, Gaborik was a 7x playoff participant (3x Wild, 2x Rangers together with Nash, 2x Kings), though he only made it past the first round once with Minnesota. Likewise, Nash also played in the postseason 7x, but only once with the Blue Jackets; his best stretch was five consecutive trips with the Rangers, highlighted by the aforementioned run to the Finals.
On the international stage, both players represented their countries with distinction. Gaborik played at both the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy and the 2010 Games in Vancouver with Slovakia, but did not medal either time; he also played in numerous World Cups and World Championships. In contrast, Nash won a slew of hardware with Team Canada: gold medals at both the aforementioned 2010 Winter Olympics and the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia, plus a gold and a pair of silvers at the World Championships.
Playoff Statistics
| Marian Gaborik | Player | Rick Nash |
| 84 | Games Played | 89 |
| 32 | Goals | 18 |
| 26 | Assists | 28 |
| 58 | Points | 46 |
| +10 | +/- | – |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; injuries were an issue for both players, as they plagued Gaborik throughout his career and ultimately led to Nash’s retirement. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years.
Decade of Dominance
| Marian Gaborik | Player | Rick Nash |
| 2001-2003, 2003-2004, 2005-2008, 2009-2012, 2014-2015 | Decade of Dominance | 2003-2004, 2005-2013 2014-2015 |
| 703 | Games Played | 723 |
| 320 | Goals | 335 |
| 315 | Assists | 284 |
| 635 | Points | 619 |
| +102 | +/- | +1 |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
The same general trends apply across the two players’ decades of dominance – Nash was the better goal-scorer, but Gaborik picked up more assists and scored more points with a better +/- rating for a slightly higher per-game scoring rate (0.90 vs. 0.86 points per game).
My Thoughts
By any measure, Marian Gaborik and Rick Nash have to be viewed as excellent draft picks by fledging franchises (unlike say, the Atlanta Thrashers drafting Patrick Stefan #1 overall in 1999) – while neither was ever truly surrounded with top-notch talent around him, both were elite players at their peak and among the best players in Wild and Blue Jackets history, respectively. As close as their career numbers are, I give the edge to Nash; though he was a bit one-dimensional and was not a great playmaker, his skill at scoring goals was truly transcendent, e.g. winning the Richard Trophy in his second season and also being a top scoring option for Team Canada. At the same time, both players’ careers are a bit of “what could have been?”: how good would Gaborik’s numbers have been had he managed to stay consistently healthy, how good would Nash have been with an elite center and not having to deal with concussion issues? In my view, had things turned out different, Gaborik and Nash both easily had the skills to produce 500-goal, 1,000-point Hall of Fame careers.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Rick Nash
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
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