The Minnesota Wild have acquired winger Gustav Nyquist from the Columbus Blue Jackets for a 2023 fifth-round pick.
Nyquist is currently on injured reserve, as he suffered a shoulder injury over a month ago and was initially announced to be out for the regular season at the very least. While the Wild could take advantage of that situation to save cap space and make more additions, that might be more complicated to do after the league released a warning that teams will be “closely scrutinized” for doing that. However, Michael Russo reports that Nyquist is confident that he’ll be back before the end of the regular season.
Nyquist is in the midst of what could be considered his worst season since he became a regular NHLer. He currently has 10 goals, 12 assists and 22 points in 48 games, and even if he played out the full season, his 82-game pace would be 37 points, a career-worst in a season where he’s played at least 25 games.
Nyquist is in the final year of a four-year contract with a $5.5 million cap hit, and he is set to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer. The Blue Jackets have retained 50% of that cap hit, giving the Wild a $2.25 million cap hit.
Nyquist joins a Wild team looking to improve offensively, as they’ve been getting by lately with their defense and goaltending. They currently sit third in the Central Division with a 33-21-6 record and three points back of first place.
The Blue Jackets get a bit more draft capital as they are looking to get the first overall pick in the upcoming draft and get Connor Bedard. They currently have the best shot at that, as they sit in last place in the league with a 19-35-6 record.
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