By all accounts, Gustav Nyquist should’ve been in the NHL this season.
Now he’ll finally get his chance.
Nyquist, stuck with AHL Grand Rapids this season due to Detroit’s cap crunch, has been summoned to the bigs in the wake of defenseman Danny DeKeyser going on LTIR with a shoulder injury.
DeKeyser will be gone for 10 games and 24 days, creating enough cap room for Nyquist to play in Detroit.
The Swedish winger cracked the Wings roster last year with a good regular season (six points in 22 games) and a very impressive postseason (five points in 14 games). He proceeded to join Grand Rapids for its Calder Cup run, then signed a two-year, $1.9 million extension in the hopes of becoming a full-time contributor in Detroit.
But that was before the Wings re-upped with Dan Cleary and couldn’t find any takers for the likes of Jordin Tootoo and Patrick Eaves (who have since been waived, and are now in Grand Rapids). Detroit was carrying as many as 16 forwards on NHL contracts this year.
Nyquist, 24, has been tearing it up for the Rapids this year, scoring 21 points in his first 15 games. He sits tied for fourth in league scoring and is second in assists, with 14.