Nashville Predators Free Agency Breakdown and Grade: Gustav Nyquist
One of the roster questions for the Nashville Predators heading into free agency was middle six winger. They might have just answered that by signing Gustav Nyquist.
The Predators had signed Luke Schenn and Ryan O’Reilly early on Saturday, and decided to add to it by inking Nyquist to a two-year, $6.37M contract. The move brings them down to just over $13.5M of cap space, leaving them room to make another move if they want to.
Reviews of the Predators moves so far have been iffy. Many are complaining that they will take up roster spots from the youth and do not fit what Barry Trotz has been saying he envisions the team being.
I am not totally over the moon with the moves overall, but I can say I endorse this one.
Gustav Nyquist is a good piece for Nashville Predators
The theme for this Predators free agency class seems to be veterans who will be here in the short-term but will help mold the youth and the team in the future. Nyquist — looking at him as both a player and in terms of his contract — absolutely checks both of those boxes.
Nyquist has been consistent his whole career, being a skilled middle six winger who you can depend on to put up 40-50 points per year.
Even with the Ryan O’Reilly signing, the Predators still have at least two youngsters on their roster who they will want to develop as centers, and a guy like Nyquist will give them one more guy to fall back on for help.
Related Story. Full Analysis and Grade for Ryan O'Reilly Signing by Nashville. light
I would imagine him playing on the second or third line in Nashville, which is where he has been throughout most of his career. He will obviously not play over Filip Forsberg, and players such as Philip Tomasino, Juuso Parssinen, and Luke Evangelista have more potential and would be better off getting those top-six minutes.
Nyquist will almost certainly play alongside Cody Glass or Tommy Novak, which makes a lot of sense and could even help out whoever is on the other wing, if he is one of the skilled youngsters.
Now notice how I mentioned how this signing could be help for the future, which sounds strange on the surface. But where teams like the Predators could gain from these moves is the return from trading them at the trade deadline.
Nyquist only signed for two years, and it is quite obvious he did not come to Nashville with the intention of winning a Stanley Cup. Both sides know what they are getting into here, and you can bet that the Predators are going to capitalize on his trade value this year or next and add more draft capital to aid their rebuild.
And in the event that that does not happen, the Predators see something in him to keep him longer and potentially contribute to meaningful winning. That of course is highly unlikely, but would nonetheless be a great outcome.
When you put the pieces together, it is hard to say that this is not an effective move for the Nashville Predators.