Nyquist traded to Wild by Predators for 2nd-round pick in 2026 Draft – NHL.com
35-year-old forward returns to Minnesota, can be unrestricted free agent after season
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Gustav Nyquist was traded to the Minnesota Wild by the Nashville Predators on Saturday for a second-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.The 35-year-old forward was held out of a 7-4 loss at the New York Islanders on Saturday for trade-related reasons. He’s in the final season of a two-year, $6.37 million contract he signed with the Predators on July 1, 2023, and can become an unrestricted free agent after the season.“They’re getting a real good player, real good,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said after the game. “He’s a smart player, versatile, can play any role on your team.“They’re getting one of the best teammates you’ll ever find and one of the best people. So, they’re lucky to get him, and hopefully he plays up to what he can bring.”Nashville will retain 50 percent of Nyquist’s average annual value of $3.185 million. He has 21 points (nine goals, 12 assists) in 57 games this season. He was traded to the Wild by the Columbus Blue Jackets on Feb. 28, 2023, for a fifth-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft and had five points (one goal, four assists) in three regular-season games after returning from an injury that sidelined him since Jan. 25. He had five assists in the Western Conference First Round, a six-game loss to the Dallas Stars.You May Also LikeThe Wild (34-22-4) play the Boston Bruins at Xcel Energy Center on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, NESN, SN360, TVAS). They are third in Central Division, two points behind the second-place Stars, but have lost three in a row and five of eight (3-5-0). They have missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs the past two seasons and are without injured forwards Kirill Kaprizov (lower body) and Joel Eriksson Ek (lower body).Kaprizov last played Jan. 26, his third game after he was out for a month. He had surgery in late January because of a lower-body injury and was originally projected to be out a minimum of four weeks, but Wild general manager Bill Guerin said it would be longer.Eriksson Ek was injured during practice Feb. 24 and placed on injured reserve the following day. The initial prognosis is that he’d miss a few weeks.”No excuses,” Guerin told NHL.com on Feb. 28. ‘We’ll do what we have to to win.”The 2025 NHL Trade Deadline is Friday at 3 p.m. ET.”Again, it’s all contingent on moving parts and the health or lack thereof on our team,” Guerin said. “Look, we can say we want one thing, and then something else transpires. I don’t think it does any good to say, ‘Hey, this is what we want.’ I think going in with some flexibility is good. It would be nice to have a full team at some point in time this season. Maybe we will. But until then, we’re really proud of the job that the guys in the lineup have done every night.”Selected by the Detroit Red Wings in the fourth round (No. 121) of the 2008 NHL Draft, Nyquist has 524 points (207 goals, 317 assists) in 841 regular-season games for the Predators, Wild, Columbus Blue Jackets, San Jose Sharks and Red Wings, and 30 points (six goals, 24 assists) in 77 playoff games.NHL.com staff writer Mike Zeisberger and independent correspondent Stefen Rosner contributed to this report
Source: https://www.nhl.com/news/gustav-nyquist-traded-to-minnesota-wild-by-nashville-predators
