Article: Why Has Gustav Nyquist's Production Dropped In Minnesota?

[Robert Brent]

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[FredJohnson]

Having talent around him helps.

[Neutral Zone Dangles]

I don’t know why everyone is surprised by his play. He’s was having a down year before the trade to MN. He’s not the player he was a couple years ago when we rented him. The scouts and Billy G should’ve known this before the trade. A second rounder for him… Billy got fleeced. 

[Imyourhuckleberry]

Not many Wild players have been on the ice for more goals for than goals against since the Wild added Nyquist. Hinostroza and Hartman are the only regular players on the + side of the +/- ledger since he was added. Ohgren joins them on it with his 1 goal in 1 game, which was assisted by Nyquist.

There are 6 Wild forwards with more points since he joined the team, and all of them play more even strength minutes than he does. The Wild's top 10 penalty kill unit since they've inserted Nyquist is missing in this article.

He's scoring points more frequently than Khusnutdinov was with the Wild, and producing better results in the crucial shut down role of the PK. Nyquist also created the opportunity for the short-handed goal the Wild scored recently. For players with at least 20 PK minutes for the Wild, Nyquist has the lowest PP goals against/60 among Wild forwards.

Another unmeasurable factor is Johansson's scoring increase. Johansson has never been a player who scored even .5 points per game for the Wild when Nyquist was not also on the team.

No idea how close the 2 are, but Johansson has tallied 12 points in 17 games since Nyquist was added this year, and Nyquist was with the team the only other time that Johansson scored above .5 points per game(for the 20 game stretch in 22-23 where Johansson had 18 points.)

I cannot speak to any on-ice reason that Johansson would play better with Nyquist on the team. Perhaps it's entirely coincidentally, but the two are close in age and Johansson seems to tally more points with his Swedish team companion on the roster. I don't think the Wild have roster spots for them next season, and I surely wouldn't want to risk only having Johansson again.

 

[Dis-allowed display name]

1 hour ago, FredJohnson said:

Having talent around him helps.

So much this.  End thread.

[mnfaninnc]

I think that Nyquist is a perimeter player, both this time around and the other time around. He is surrounded by perimeter players too. You have to get into the home plate area. You have to get dirty sometimes. Nyquist is not really doing that. This is where we need the help and supposedly where Breezers would be valuable. 

Honestly, I'm pretty sick of so many perimeter players, and as a generality, you find these types of players coming in from the Swedish/Finnish systems. Protec is probably right on target with his targeting of NA players, but the other aggressive ones can be found in Eastern Europe/Russia. 

We don't just need big bodies, we need aggressive down the middle types. And, this is an area where Rossi has been sneaky good, he weaves in there and scores a lot of home plate goals. 

But, even some of our NA guys still play too perimeterish. This must be addressed in the offseason by both Guerin and Hynes. 

[Enforceror]

4 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

I think that Nyquist is a perimeter player, both this time around and the other time around. He is surrounded by perimeter players too. You have to get into the home plate area. You have to get dirty sometimes. Nyquist is not really doing that. This is where we need the help and supposedly where Breezers would be valuable. 

Honestly, I'm pretty sick of so many perimeter players, and as a generality, you find these types of players coming in from the Swedish/Finnish systems. Protec is probably right on target with his targeting of NA players, but the other aggressive ones can be found in Eastern Europe/Russia. 

We don't just need big bodies, we need aggressive down the middle types. And, this is an area where Rossi has been sneaky good, he weaves in there and scores a lot of home plate goals. 

But, even some of our NA guys still play too perimeterish. This must be addressed in the offseason by both Guerin and Hynes. 

Without Ek, we have Breezers, Hinostroza, Rossi and sometimes Freddy that will go to the net. Boldy will go on a drive there from time to time. Other than Ek and Rossi (sometimes), nobody in front of the net is a big threat IMO. Breezers is good at boxing out but doesn't seem to have the hand speed/reflexes to be consistent. Hinostroza fights hard there but lacks the size make room for himself. I don't see Gadreau there often enough for it to make a difference. One person I don't see there but would like to.....Trenin. He has the strength and attributes to do well there. I understand he's mainly forechecking but it might work to park him in net if he has linemates that can hold possession long enough to get a couple shots off. 

 

[RedLake]

Nyquist had to much competition with Lightwinds, Trenin, Gaunce, Shore, Strohs light and of course NoJo. That's stiff competition in the NHL.

[MrCheatachu]

4 hours ago, Enforceror said:

Without Ek, we have Breezers, Hinostroza, Rossi and sometimes Freddy that will go to the net. Boldy will go on a drive there from time to time. Other than Ek and Rossi (sometimes), nobody in front of the net is a big threat IMO. Breezers is good at boxing out but doesn't seem to have the hand speed/reflexes to be consistent. Hinostroza fights hard there but lacks the size make room for himself. I don't see Gadreau there often enough for it to make a difference. One person I don't see there but would like to.....Trenin. He has the strength and attributes to do well there. I understand he's mainly forechecking but it might work to park him in net if he has linemates that can hold possession long enough to get a couple shots off. 

 

Blows my mind that Rossi's willing to go to the front of the net when he's like 5'9 and weight 180 sopping wet, and all the big bodies that SillyG falls in love with (Braz/Trenin) seem scared to put in the effort.

Boldy's 6'2 and 200 lbs, Trenin's 6'2 and 200 lbs, Brazeau's 6'6 and 220, yet the body that's noticable in front of the net is Marco Rossi (who's only bigger than like Zucarello and Spurgeon)

[Imyourhuckleberry]

Blues lost in Winnipeg. They head to Edmonton for a Wednesday game next.

If the Wild win Wednesday night, they could move back into the 1st wildcard spot, or at least put themselves in position to lock it up by winning their final 3 games.

[RedLake]

Flames win. Must win Wednesday. Kaprizov hattie incoming.

[mnfaninnc]

11 hours ago, MrCheatachu said:

Boldy's 6'2 and 200 lbs, Trenin's 6'2 and 200 lbs, Brazeau's 6'6 and 220, yet the body that's noticable in front of the net is Marco Rossi (who's only bigger than like Zucarello and Spurgeon)

The problem I see here is the dump and chase method that expects the whole team to play at the perimeter. If you dump, the chasers are those guys mentioned above -Boldy. Even Foligno has trouble getting there. 

This is a main problem that has been eluded to by several commenters. Our top6 players are mainly finesse players who lurk around the perimeter. They also expect other top 6 players to do the same passing it around the boards and stay to the outside. You can cardio skate all day long around there, those are low danger areas. We simply don't have much in the top6 that will take the rush to the paint. 

Once Ek and Kaprizov get back, we'll have 2 more bodies that will do it. That might be enough to get us through a playoff round, if healthy. But, don't count on Nyquist, Johansson, Zuccarello to do this consistently. That's not their game, and Guerin should realize this. 

I would absolutely love it if Heinzy strolled into Shooter's office and said: "I'm sick of the perimeter play. We need guys to hammer the paint." Since this was Guerin's game, I would think he would be more than on board with the idea. 

[mnfaninnc]

9 hours ago, RedLake said:

Flames win. Must win Wednesday. Kaprizov hattie incoming.

Flames have a somewhat easy schedule going forward. But I still believe they are doused at 90 points.

[RedLake]

7 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

Flames have a somewhat easy schedule going forward. But I still believe they are doused at 90 points.

If the Sharks beat us tomorrow and the Flames beat us Friday guess I wouldn't be surprised.

[mnfaninnc]

I'm anticipating a win Wednesday as the Wild continue to try and establish a home ice advantage. They should be well rested.

[MrCheatachu]

29 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

I would absolutely love it if Heinzy strolled into Shooter's office and said: "I'm sick of the perimeter play. We need guys to hammer the paint." Since this was Guerin's game, I would think he would be more than on board with the idea. 

I'd love it if Shooter strolled into Heinzy's office asked him why all the big boys he's overpaid for refuse to establish themselves in the paint.  Every single guy we get, I hear 'he'll be tougher to push around' yet here we are with Rossi being the only guy consistently doing the dirty work.

The past couple games Moose with Rossi/Boldy has been a fun line to watch...Moose being a wrecking ball out there.  The NJ game where Dillon threw a pass back to the center because he was expecting to get crushed by Moose and Boldy was cruising the slot and finished on it was a great example.

I was told by various people in the comments that GusGus>>MoJo even though their statline this season has been identical because he would 'drive play' and be a better linemate for Boldy because he would do what Moose has been doing, only be more skilled offensively.

 

[mnfaninnc]

18 minutes ago, MrCheatachu said:

The past couple games Moose with Rossi/Boldy has been a fun line to watch...Moose being a wrecking ball out there.  The NJ game where Dillon threw a pass back to the center because he was expecting to get crushed by Moose and Boldy was cruising the slot and finished on it was a great example.

And then....the next article shows up!

[Scalptrash]

Friday's game is a playoff game. Calgary has games in hand and if they beat the Wild Friday, it may be all the motivation they need. They also close out against teams that can't move in the seedings and may be resting players.

This will be much closer than people think. No one here agrees with me, but I think it would be better for the Wild not to make the playoffs this year. They will more than likely get swept and it will leave a bad taste after a roller coaster season.

All I can say is that Billy better make it to round two next year or time for yet another change.

[M_Nels]

3 minutes ago, Scalptrash said:

Friday's game is a playoff game. Calgary has games in hand and if they beat the Wild Friday, it may be all the motivation they need. They also close out against teams that can't move in the seedings and may be resting players.

This will be much closer than people think. No one here agrees with me, but I think it would be better for the Wild not to make the playoffs this year. They will more than likely get swept and it will leave a bad taste after a roller coaster season.

All I can say is that Billy better make it to round two next year or time for yet another change.

Agreed that we can't rely on Calgary to lose so Friday is essentially a must win.

I do not agree on them missing the playoffs though. You never know what'll happen if you get in the dance, nobody saw the Bolts getting swept by CBJ in 2019 and taking it to 6 in the 2nd round. I don't see a sweep.

[SkolWild73]

1 hour ago, M_Nels said:

Agreed that we can't rely on Calgary to lose so Friday is essentially a must win.

I do not agree on them missing the playoffs though. You never know what'll happen if you get in the dance, nobody saw the Bolts getting swept by CBJ in 2019 and taking it to 6 in the 2nd round. I don't see a sweep.

If we beat the Sharks tomorrow and win in regulation against the Flames on Friday, we clinch.  That’s the route I am hoping for.