And introducing Scott Howson as the bus driver, sort of, kind of

The deadline day came and went and with it so did Rick Nash's hopes for a playoff run in 2012.

The Columbus captain, who was subject to the bulk of the speculation all day long, did not move to a contender but the 3 PM ET deadline.

The Blue Jackets apparently not enamoured of any of the would be offers to move Nash, instead it seems that they will now wait until the NHL draft when some more participants to the Nash sweepstakes may appear.

However, make no doubt about it, Rick Nash most likely is in his last season as a Blue Jacket, especially after the Blue Jackets GM threw him under the bus with his comments that will paint the captain as a man desperate to leave Ohio, perhaps hockey's equivalent of LeBron James in that state and we all remember how that whole scenario went.

For his part, the Blue Jackets captain won't be particularly impressed with his GM for effectively trying to paint him as the bad guy on the sinking ship known as the Blue Jackets.

In a battle of Public Relations however, Howson may have overplayed his hand, as this article in the Columbus Dispatch prior to the day's activities suggests, Nash has been considered a loyal soldier on behalf of Columbus, the fact that he wants out tells most more about the dysfunction in the upper reaches of the Blue Jacket operation.

Now that he's in a holding pattern until at least the June draft, it will be interesting to see how things evolve in Columbus, with that evolution and dependent on whether there's new management in place after the season at least one hockey observer suggests Nash may yet remain a Blue Jacket.

Doug McLean, one time GM of the Blue Jackets, appearing on Prime Time Sports with Bob McCown and offered up the idea that Nash has been the prototype team guy in Columbus since he arrived in Ohio.

In his opinion, if there's a new GM in place after the season he might have a chance to convince Nash that the future in Columbus isn't as dire as he surely feels it must be today.

Howson's post trade press conference was covered from a number of locations, NBC Sports provided some of the capsule reviews of the corporate view and much of it was negative to the organization itself, as opposed to Nash

It's just the start of the post mortem on the Nash sweeps and if you're Scott Howson, you're not using google for the next few days.

CBC-- Nash wanted out of Columbus, Jackets GM says
Globe and Mail-- Blue Jackets GM reveals Nash asked for trade
National Post-- Rick Nash demanded trade: Blue Jackets GM
Winnipeg Free Press-- Rick Nash asked for a trade, but Blue Jackets say no one met their price
Yahoo Sports-- Howson tosses Rick Nash under the C-bus, reveals captain's trade demand
ESPN-- GM: Rick Nash wanted to be traded