With the Bruins and Capitals being teams that have expressed interest in Nyquist in the recent past, the Canucks have also expressed their interest in acquiring Nyquist as the trade deadline approaches.
The Canucks are in a rebuild but with the Western Conference being in shambles and turning into quite the playoff race. Currently sitting in fourth in the Pacific Division, the Canucks must decide if they want to continue the rebuild or if they’re going to make a playoff run.
In the latest news, the Canucks had checked in with the Red Wings about Nyquist, but no progress had been made in trade talks between the two. Adding Nyquist could allow the Canucks to play rookie sensation Elias Pettersson with fellow Swede, Nyquist.
To look at trade talks furthering between the Canucks and Red Wings, the draft pick route would most likely be the same, may be valued less since the Canucks are on the fringe of making this move so the Red Wings could have to settle for less.
Now, if you look at actual players that could be acquired… drum roll… Welcome to the land of make-believe… QUINN HUGHES! I recently wrote about how the Red Wings should select Kaapo Kakko over Jack Hughes, but that would be a dream scenario if the Red Wings managed to snag Quinn Hughes in a trade for Nyquist (plus more since he’s such a top-tier prospect), and then were able to draft Jack Hughes in June.
Back in reality, the Red Wings could definitely look into acquiring a young talented defenseman like Guillaume Brisebois, Jack Rathbone, or even possibly Olli Juolevi. Both Brisebois and Juolevi are in the AHL for the Canucks right now, and Rathbone is like Quinn Hughes who is in the NCAA still. The Detroit Red Wings could quickly try to poach a defenseman to groom in our system with some of the likenesses of Jared McIsaac, Vili Saarijarvi, Gustav Lindstrom and others.