Saturday, July 11
Neil Parker
2015-07-11
Gustav Nyquist, Patrick Sharp, Kevin Shattenkirk and more …
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Gustav Nyquist signed a four-year, $4.75 million contract Friday.
He followed up his 28-goal breakout during 2013-14 season with 27 tallies last year, albeit in 25 more games. Nyquist is an exceptional shooter and offensive player. He has 40-goal upside. However, no one should be surprised if he settles in as a solid 25-to-30 goal scorer annually.
Entering his age-26 season, there might not be another level to his production, either. His skills suggest there is, though. And, it is fair to suggest he wasn’t utilized in the best offensive roles all the time last season. There is a littler more to this coming.
Expect that to change in the upcoming campaign, and for the Red Wings to lean on Nyquist in offensive situations more. He did only average 16:39 minutes per game last year. And he surely can improve on his even-strength play, as 24 of his points and 14 of his goals were of the power-play variety.
Then there was the Detroit Red Wings talk.
Discussions with new head coach Jeff Blashill touched on the topic of Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk playing together, which will be great. You know, come December, or whenever they’re both healthy.
Seriously, though, Zetterberg and Datsyuk are great real-world players and fine fantasy options, but their name value exceeds their fake value, especially with their injury histories. Unless they fall into your lap, allow someone else deal with the increasingly inconsistent production and frequent lineup absences.
What is interesting is his notion of turning over more scoring roles to the younger players, which lends more optimism for the upside of Tomas Tatar and Gustav Nyquist.
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