It’s Imperative Gustav Nyquist plays well for the Detroit Red Wings
By Bob Heyrman
The Detroit Red Wings need Gus Nyquist to start hot and finish strong. Nyquist will serve as one of the Red Wings’ most significant trade chips as the NHL trade deadline approaches.
Gustav Nyquist will serve as a top trade chip for the Red Wings at or before the NHL trade deadline. Nyquist’s performance throughout the season will be the biggest factor determining what the return will be to the Detroit Red Wings for his services.
The best case scenario for the Detroit Red Wings would be, Gus turning back the clock to 2013-14,14-15. Nyquist was finding the back of the net on a regular basis, often scoring in bunches. Gus scored 28 & 27 respectively in those seasons.
Over the last three seasons, Nyquist hasn’t been able to find the back of the net nearly enough. Nyquist has been only averaging a tick better than 16 goals per season during this span.
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Gus was able to knock home 21 goals last season, it was his best goal production in quite some time. Three years as a matter of fact. The Detroit Red Wings will hope Gus can have an encore performance in him this season to help his trade value.
Hopefully, Gus Nyquist can get off to a good start, finding his scoring stride early and often for the Wings. Nyquist along with Thomas Vanek will be depth scoring wingers that teams will look to add later on during the season.
Nyquist recently spoke with Ansar Khan of Mlive.com about wanting to step up and fill more of a leadership role for the Detroit Red Wings with the absence of captain Henrik Zetterberg.
"“It gives an opportunity for guys to step up,” Nyquist said. “I’m a guy that wants to step up this year and be more of a leader and be a good player. Hopefully I can do that.”“He’s our leader and he’s still our best player, in my opinion,” Nyquist said. “That’d be a tough loss for us for sure. But, hopefully he can figure out a way here to rehab or something like that and try to get back on the ice.”"
Gus Nyquist played the most hockey of his career last season. Gus played 17:51 minutes per game recording 21 goals and 40 points. Although the minutes were his highest, the points total was the lowest of his career.
I believe Nyquist is as talented as Tomas Tatar. Ken Holland was able to get a first, second and third-round draft pick in return from the Vegas Golden Knights for Tatar. The main reason was Tatar was not just a rental, he is under contract for three more seasons at 5.3 million per season.
It was an excellent trade for Holland to pull off; the cap relief allowed the Red Wings flexibility to sign other vital parts. Like it or not they signed Thomas Vanek who provides Detroit the same offensive statistics as Tatar would have, costing the Wings much less. Vanek will also be dealt, returning a mid-round draft choice to Detroit.
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Nyquist will be a pure rental player; he will be looking to sign a new contract next summer. His value being a “rental” will not be nearly the same as Tatar. Expect a pair of mid-round draft choices, a third and fourth would be a good return. At best, if Nyquist has been rejuvenated and he is nearing the 30 goal marker possibly a 2nd round pick along with a later choice.