The Minnesota Wild have acquired Gustav Nyquist from the Nashville Predators for the Wild's second-round pick in 2026. The Predators will also retain 50 percent of Nyquist's $3.185 million cap hit.

The Wild receive:

Nyquist, who finished with an unexpected career high of 75 points last season at age 34. His results have plummeted along with those of the Predators this season, as he is on pace for just 30 points and recently snapped a nine-game point drought. Nyquist is also averaging just over one shot per game with a minus-20, making him droppable in many formats if you were confident enough to draft him in the first place.

Fantasy impact:

The good news is that Nyquist should be more than a depth forward for the Wild, at least in the short term. Kirill Kaprizov's return date is uncertain, while Joel Eriksson Ek is now week-to-week with a lower-body injury. The Wild have also been missing Ryan Hartman, who will serve the final game of his eight-game suspension on Sunday. The Wild are 25^th in scoring since January 1, a symptom of missing Kaprizov for all but three games since after Christmas. Acquired by a team desperate for scoring, Nyquist could jump onto the top line with Matt Boldy and Marco Rossi as well as the top power play, as waiver add Vinnie Hinostroza has recently been serving in both roles.

If/when Kaprizov returns, Nyquist might be bumped down the lineup into a secondary role, which seems more typical for a team loading up for the playoffs. Barely clinging onto the third seed in the Central, the Wild need to make this kind of trade in order to avoid falling further down the standings. Nyquist's overall icetime and power-play time could receive a short-term bump, as he can add both scoring and penalty-killing help to reduce the bleeding for the Wild, who have lost three games this week. Nyquist is a UFA after the season, so he could turn out to be a rental for the Wild for the second time in his career (Minnesota also acquired him in 2023).

Players this helps, in order:

Nyquist (very short term)

Players this hurts, in order:

Hinostroza