ST. PAUL - The NHL Trade Deadline is just days away. The Minnesota Wild jumped the gun already and made a trade for Nashville Predators forward Gustav Nyquist.
"I mean, we've known him for a long time now. Just seeing him through his career, and then having him and the way he fits on the ice and off the ice, it was kind of a no-brainer," Wild President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Bill Guerin said. "We wanted to get an early jump on it. Everything fit. Like the money fit, everything. We wanted to get him earlier rather than risk it and not be able to get him."
Nyquist, 35, played three regular seasons and six playoff games for the Wild in 2023 after they traded for him at the deadline. He recorded one goal and nine assists in those nine total games.
The Wild traded a 2026 second-round pick fro Nyquist this time around and got the Predators to retain 50% of Nyquist's salary.
This is big, considering this allows the Wild to have some cap flexibility in case Kirill Kaprizov or Joel Eriksson Ek comes back before the playoffs. As of now, that is the assumption.
"Yeah, I mean, that’s how we have to," Guerin said on if they are operating under the expectation of Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek being back before seasons end. "Right now, that’s how we have to."
As for a timeline on when Eriksson Ek or Kaprizov will be back?
"Honestly, you guys have been asking me nonstop about this. I just don’t know," Guerin said. "Like you said, there’s no exact science. I can’t tell you because what I tell you today might be different tomorrow. Things change constantly. I’m not going to say, ‘oh he’s going to be back 17 days from now’ and he’s not black 17 days from now, you guys are going to be like ‘what happened?’ So I don’t know. I just don’t know."
'We Think He's Gonna Be Out Longer Than We Expected': Kirill Kaprizov's Injury Will Keep Him Out Longer
ST. PAUL - Minnesota Wild President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Bill Guerin said on <a href="https://www.iheart.com/live/kfan-fm-1003-1209/?pname=kfan.com&sc=dnsredirect">KFAN Radio on Friday</a> that Kirill Kaprizov is likely going to be out longer than expected.
Kaprizov's original timeline was a minimum of four weeks. It has been four weeks and he has yet to step foot on the ice. Guerin said that Kaprizov would be out longer than expected.
As for Eriksson Ek, he suffered a lower-body injury, and the team has given him a week-to-week timeline. This organization has never given anyone a timeline longer than week-to-week, so it is hard to gauge that timeline.
It could be two weeks or two months. Heck, Kaprizov's first timeline was day-to-day, and it turned into a whole month. But the expectation is that Eriksson Ek will be out at least six weeks.
With the deadline coming up on Friday, the Wild are running it as if Eriksson Ek and Kaprizov will be back before the end of the season. This means they don't have the cap space to make any other moves. Nyquist will likely be their only move unless they get creative somehow.
"No, we don’t really have much at all. But you never know," Guerin said. "I hope you guys don’t hold me to it because things happen, so we never know. "
Now, is there a chance that if the trainers come to Guerin and say that one of the two is out for the season, could he change his mind and make some moves?
"Yeah. Of course. If they come to me Friday and say this is the way it looks then yeah, we adjust," Guerin said. "It’s like you said, there’s not a science to it. Just the way it is. We kind of have to take it day by day. What it is today, doesn’t mean it’s going to be the exact same 5 or 6 days from now."
Nonetheless, the Wild will head into Friday's deadline looking to stand still and expect that Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek will be back by the end of the season.
It will be a quiet deadline for the Wild but if you think about it, they are still making some moves. Look at what goaltender Filip Gustavsson said.
"We're gonna be fine. We're gonna acquire Hartman for the next game and then we got Brods (Jonas Brodin) hopefully coming back with Ekky and Kirill, so our deadline looks fine."
So, getting four guys back who have been on this team the whole year is seen as an acquisition?
"It's kind of like acquisitions. They haven't played for a bit, so when they're back, it's gonna be good."
'To Be Honest With Ya, It Stinks': Wild GM Bill Guerin Explains The Marat Khusnutdinov AHL Demotion
ST. PAUL - The Minnesota Wild made a <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/minnesota-wild/latest-news/wild-acquire-forward-gustav-nyquist-from-nashville">trade to acquire Gustav Nyquist </a>from the Nashville Predators for a second-round pick. Because it was just a draft pick, the Wild had to send someone down.