Wild trade for Gustav Nyquist, a playmaker who produced 75 points last season for Nashville

Sarah McLellan, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Mar 1, 2025

Published in Hockey

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MINNEAPOLIS — The Wild are bringing back a familiar face for their playoff push.

For the second time in three years, they’ve traded for Gustav Nyquist, reacquiring the veteran forward Saturday from the Nashville Predators for a 2026 second-round draft pick.

Nashville is also retaining half of Nyquist’s contract, which expires after the season, when he can become a free agent.

Nyquist, 35, is expected to play Sunday afternoon when the Wild host the Boston Bruins at Xcel Energy Center after a winless road trip that extended their losing streak to three games.

During his first stint with the Wild, Nyquist was an effective addition despite coming off a shoulder injury that delayed his team debut by more than a month after the Wild acquired him from the Blue Jackets almost exactly three years earlier, on Feb. 28, 2023, for a fifth-rounder.

He had a goal and four assists in three regular-season games before tying for the team lead in playoff scoring with five assists in the first-round series vs. the Stars that Dallas won in six games.

But the Wild couldn’t afford to keep the playmaker, who went on to sign a two-year, $6.37 million deal with the Predators, and Nyquist flourished: He scored a career-high 75 points last season, including 23 goals and a whopping 52 assists, during a renaissance for the former longtime Red Wing who also represented the Sharks during his nearly 14-year career; in 841 NHL games, Nyquist has 207 goals and 317 points for 524 points plus another 30 points in 77 career playoff appearances.

This season with Nashville, Nyquist had nine goals and 12 assists while playing on the power play and penalty kill — roles he’s expected to take on with the Wild — during a dip for the Predators, who have sunk near the bottom of the standings after an aggressive offseason makeover. They scratched Nyquist for their Saturday afternoon game vs. the Islanders for trade-related reasons; the NHL trade deadline is Friday at 2 p.m. Central Time.

Like the Wild’s Jonas Brodin, Joel Eriksson Ek and Filip Gustavsson, Nyquist recently suited up for Sweden at the 4 Nations Face-Off, and his pickup bolsters the Wild’s shorthanded forward group. Eriksson Ek and Kirill Kaprizov are hurt, while Ryan Hartman has to sit out one more game before he’s finished serving his roughing suspension that was reduced from 10 games to eight.

In his return to the Wild, Nyquist will wear No. 41.

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