Though it looks like it might change Saturday, when the day began, the Columbus Blue Jackets were in last place in the NHL.
After signing Johnny Gaudreau to a massive free agent contract, just about everything has gone wrong this season, with a long list of injuries dropping the Blue Jackets out of playoff contention almost right away.
It makes sense, then, that Columbus general manager Jarmo Kekalainen would be looking at ways to turn expiring contracts into future assets. One of those expiring deals is Gustav Nyquist, who is finishing up a four-year, $22M contract this season.
On the Hockey Night in Canada broadcast, Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek explained that the team is now listening to trade offers for Nyquist.
Now 33, Nyquist has long been an effective offensive player in the NHL. In all right of his full seasons in the league, he has scored at least 42 points, and just last season posted 18 goals and 53 points in all 82 games.
This year hasn’t been quite as good, with just 18 on the board, but at least some of that is due to the poor performance around him.
Most notably, perhaps, is that he doesn’t rely on powerplay opportunities to get his offense.
Nyquist hasn’t cracked 12 points with the man advantage since 2014-15, and actually had just as many shorthanded goals (4) as powerplay markers last season.
Two of his eight goals this year are while penalty killing, another attribute that will certainly make him attractive come deadline time.
The Blue Jackets have selected five times in the first round the last two years, and now look like they have a legitimate shot at Connor Bedard.
If they can continue to add pieces, there could be much better times just around the corner in Columbus.
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