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  • Wild Make Significant Deadline Trade For Familiar Face

    Image courtesy of © Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
    Thomas Williams

    By Thomas Williams -

    The Minnesota Wild made their first substantial move around the NHL trade deadline, and it was for an aging veteran who has worn the colors before.

    Announced by the team on Saturday afternoon, the Wild acquired forward Gustav Nyquist from the Nashville Predators and sent their 2026 second-round pick down south.

    It was a move seemingly out of nowhere, as the Wild have been subtlety connected to a couple of players on trade boards scattered across the internet, but nothing as a cemented rumor.

    However, it was a trade potentially made out of necessity. With Joel Eriksson Ek and Kirill Kaprizov out of the lineup and some mediocre play from the team overall, the Wild have been losing their grasp of a playoff spot. A 5-5-0 record in their last 10 games and a three-game losing streak -- it's no coincidence that it has been three games since Eriksson Ek suffered his injury -- put the Wild in a position to make a move now before it was too late.

    Is Nyquist the right candidate for this potentially season-saving move? If he played like he did in his previous stint in Minnesota, potentially. Just two years ago, the Wild traded a fifth-round pick for a then-injured Nyquist, and he was able to play the final three games of Minnesota's regular season and then all six playoff games against the Dallas Stars. Through those nine games, Nyquist scored one goal and 10 points and appeared to find new life in St. Paul.

    Now two years older and a pending unrestricted free agent at the age of 35, Nyquist is showing his decline. The winger has scored nine goals and 21 points in 57 games with the Nashville Predators, the third-worst team in the West. Not the electric season he hoped for when he was able to be on a team with Steven Stamkos and Ryan O'Reilly, but no one on that team has had anything anyone would call a good season.

    Nevertheless, Wild general manager Bill Guerin has pulled a familiar move. He knows Nyquist and knows what he looks like in Minnesota, so he went ahead and traded a much higher draft pick for a player who is significantly older than he was when he was last playing for this team.

    The timing of this trade and the player they acquired just feels like a slight act of desperation and trying to cling onto a top-three spot in the Central Division. Thankfully, the Wild banked enough points that they shouldn't completely drop out of the postseason.

    The Colorado Avalanche are banging on the door and most likely will take the Wild's spot. Still, as Minnesota drops into the first Wild Card spot, the Vancouver Canucks are seven points behind them with just one game in hand. It would take two significant streaks -- the Wild continuing to lose and the Canucks re-finding their form -- for Minnesota to be at risk of not making the playoffs.

    But that is the fear and what might have just caused this trade to be made. Nyquist could be a welcome addition to the Wild's top six, but it is a little bit of a puzzling move until the puck hits the ice and we see it fully fleshed out. For now, it's trading a fairly valuable asset for a 35-year-old winger who isn't having a great season and might not even make more of an impact than anyone in the organization before Saturday.

    By Thomas Williams  

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    Mateo3xm
    19 hours ago, Burnt Toast said:

    This move makes the Wild better right now, without significant cost to the team over the next few years. I think it’s important for the Wild to make the playoffs this year. They are NOT a lock, especially with injuries to top players. I see this as a smart, measured move. If you want high risk, all in, 2027 might be a better year to do so. Why is making the playoffs important? There’s no better teacher for our players than experience. I think it is important for KK as well. 

    I think a 2nd was way too much for a 35 yr old 

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    1Brotherbill

    It is doubtful that the Wild will trade for anyone.  Unless they trade a bunch of prospects and I doubt that is what they want to do.  The money just isn't there.   Unless salary is retained this is probably the only deal the Wild make.  

    First month under 500 all season was February.  They have a 9 point lead over last out of playoffs.  21 games left to go.  

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    Imyourhuckleberry

    I kind of love that they put Nyquist right up on line 1. That move to draw the penalty nearly was a Nyquist goal and Boldy finished the game with 8 shots on goal. The line didn't score, but he gives Boldy some juice on the other side that many of their other wings don't bring to the ice.

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    Pewterschmidt
    28 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

    I kind of love that they put Nyquist right up on line 1. That move to draw the penalty nearly was a Nyquist goal and Boldy finished the game with 8 shots on goal. The line didn't score, but he gives Boldy some juice on the other side that many of their other wings don't bring to the ice.

    Yah Boldy probably the biggest beneficiary of G Nyq on the team

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    Need4speed99
    On 3/1/2025 at 7:42 PM, mnhockeyfan03 said:

    This is not a significant trade.  It’s a non event.  This team needs a big shakup with another 4-6 new players.  To much of the same for years not getting it done.  

    And until they stop making the same, damn moves, nothing will change.

    At this point, any "rental" will be just that. Bad goaltending, an abhorrent pp kill isn't going to get you far in the playoffs. 

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    Need4speed99
    2 hours ago, 1Brotherbill said:

    It is doubtful that the Wild will trade for anyone.  Unless they trade a bunch of prospects and I doubt that is what they want to do.  The money just isn't there.   Unless salary is retained this is probably the only deal the Wild make.  

    First month under 500 all season was February.  They have a 9 point lead over last out of playoffs.  21 games left to go.  

    What good is making  the playoffs only to get wrecked? So if they barely make it they go against the jets... what's their record against them?

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    Need4speed99
    12 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

    I think ogz is used as a sweetener along with 2027 1st+2nd to return a legitimate top 6 forward

     starting to sound like the Chuck Fletcher mortgage the future to save his job?  Yep

    Ogy was a guerin pick... and yes, it seems they play him and others on the 4th lines to try and hope they break through to just trade.

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    Citizen Strife
    3 hours ago, Need4speed99 said:

    What good is making  the playoffs only to get wrecked? So if they barely make it they go against the jets... what's their record against them?

    After trading the picks for Jiricek, what would be the point in selling off and tanking?  Guerin didn't want to pay whatever price it would take for vaunted "needle movers" if they were even offered.  Playing to lose games would just help Columbus.

    Guerin is doing the tightrope walk he's been doing for years.  I've already accepted the team doesn't really have a chance.  I'm willing to ride things out though, because getting to the playoffs and winning games is what a team is supposed to do.

    Edited by Citizen Strife
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