New York. A broken shoulder now prevents him from playing, but Gustav Nyquist is still excited about his move to Minnesota.
“I hope to be ready before the qualifiers start and I’m really looking forward to it,” the quick-witted veteran tells Sportbladet.
A record number of NHL Swedes, in one form or another, got moving during yesterday evening and night.
Rasmus Sandin (Toronto), Pierre Engvall (Toronto), Erik Gustafsson (Washington), Marcus Johansson (Washington) and Matthias Ekholm (Nashville) have all been traded to new clubs – and just when everyone thought the dust storm might have settled, word came out that Gustav Nyquist, 33, can also send change of address coupons to everyone in his circle of friends.
I hope to play in the playoffs
He was sent from the Columbus Blue Jackets to the Minnesota Wild – in exchange for a fifth pick in this summer’s draft.
– It feels so good. Minnesota is a really good team with a good chance of getting into the playoffs, which are playoff games you want to play, says Haaland-born Skanean on the phone from Ohio.
– So I’m really looking forward to getting there.
However, it will be a while before fans at the Xcel Energy Center get a chance to get to know “Gus.” He injured his shoulder at the end of January, hasn’t played a game since then and is still not match fit.
– No, but the recovery is going as it should and I hope to be able to play again at the end of the regular season or the beginning of the playoffs. It is exactly where the shoulder should be full again. The hope, of course, is that it will pass as quickly as possible.
He gets many of his Swedish teammates
Nyquist began his career in the National Hockey League in Detroit in 2011 and was something of a protégé of Henrik Zetterberg during eight stellar seasons in the Motown classic. He was then traded to San Jose for a short run with Eric Carlson & Company before signing with Columbus in the summer of 2019.
Now he’ll be teammates with compatriots Jonas Broden, Joel Ericsson-Ek, Philip Gustafsson and Markus Johansson – the latter of whom also traveled to the wintry Swedish countryside on Tuesday.
– “Makan” I know very well, we played together when we were little, but I’m not more familiar with other Swedes. He says it would be interesting to get to know them.