Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash walked into the locker room yesterday and saw three empty stalls to the right of his locker, the nameplates above each removed.

Fredrik Modin, gone.

Raffi Torres, gone.

Milan Jurcina, gone.

"Kind of lonely over there," Nash said.

A week ago, he played for a Canadian Olympic hockey team worth its weight in gold. Yesterday, he dealt with the realities of another Blue Jackets' retooling project. The only Torres in the room was a bantamweight cage fighter named Miguel doing a meet and greet with players in advance of his Saturday fight in Nationwide Arena.

A day after the Blue Jackets moved three veterans at the NHL trade deadline for draft picks, prospects and a journeyman defenseman, Nash spoke of the void while trying to focus on the future.

"You lose friends when the business side takes over," Nash said. "It was tough to lose (Modin) because he has helped me with a lot of things with leadership and Raffi was a good friend and a big part of the team. But you got to look at the long haul and the future with those moves."

When Nash signed an eight-year, $62.4million contract last July, he had hoped days like Wednesday were behind the franchise. Instead, the Blue Jackets sit in 14th place in the Western Conference with a depleted lineup and road games in San Jose, Los Angeles and Anaheim on deck.

A season ago, the goal in March was making the playoffs. Nash said yesterday the last 18 games are about being "happy with good hockey, solid efforts and playing the right way."

Despite the subdued mood, Nash said the deadline purge was not as painful as seasons past.

"It's not a total revamping," he said. "It's tough but we have to move on and win games."

Nash supports general manager Scott Howson's personnel decisions regardless of the modest return. The second-round pick acquired from Buffalo for Torres had belonged to Vancouver, meaning it will probably fall somewhere between Nos. 49-57 overall.

"We understand it has to happen to make the team better," Nash said. "I have trust in them, trust in Scott, that they are going to put the best players in the dressing room to win. I showed that last summer (in re-signing)."

Nash looked understandably tired in the Blue Jackets' 4-3 overtime loss to the Canucks on Tuesday, then got ready to leave again.

"I unpacked and repacked (Wednesday) night," he said.

Nash was headed for San Jose, where he will reunite with four Sharks players who helped win gold for Canada. The Sharks, of course, are much higher in the standings, their locker room not nearly as empty.

treed@dispatch.com