"I've heard nothing but good things about the place from former players, current players. And I've asked around a little bit."
Gustav Nyquist did his research when it came to deciding where his career would take he and his family next. Nyquist was most recently traded at last season's deadline to the Minnesota Wild from the Columbus Blue Jackets. It was a challenging time for Nyquist who was rehabbing an injury when the trade happened. Nyquist was able to play three regular season games before recording 5 assists in 6 postseason games in the Wild's first round lost to the Dallas Stars.
Entering his twelfth year in the league, Nyquist looked around at his options and liked what he saw here in Nashville.
"It's an exciting stage of this organization, " Nyquist said Wednesday. "Some new guys, some new signings of some older guys to help along the exciting young guys in this organization. And then you've got real good building blocks at every position really - Forsberg, Josi, Saros."
Along with Nyquist, Predators GM Barry Trotz also added veterans Ryan O'Reilly and Luke Schenn via free agency.
When asked what he hopes to bring to the younger players in the locker room, Nyquist said, "I just want to be a good voice in the locker room for the young guys. We already have such good leadership in place and obviously with O'Reilly and Schenn coming in - two older guys - it'll be a great mix, I think."
Nyquist is a versatile player whose career has seen its shares of ups and downs. In recents seasons when many might have thought his best NHL days were behind him, the Swedish winger found ways to elevate his game once again. In his 2021-2022 season with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Nyquist recorded his second best career season in points and assists.
Despite the injury last spring that kept him out of all but three regular season games after the trade deadline, Nyquist felt great going into the playoffs in April.
"I felt great coming back. I felt 100%," Nyquist said. "I've been injured once before that and you realize how much you miss hockey when you're out for an expended period of time. It's good to be back and feel healthy."
Nyquist appreciates the opportunity to play for a team charting a new path, and he is looking forward to playing games at Bridgestone in a Predators jersey.
"I feel like I haven't won too many games in this building," he said, smiling. "It's a loud building obviously. It's always a fun building to come in and play in, though it's like an intimidating building."
"It will be fun to be on the right side of that."
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