But he's so much smaller than Tatar. Obviously he needs to do some more strengthening over the next couple decades before he's ready.
This is not about age, strength, or performance anymore. Nyquist has at every single level, proven himself able. What he needs now is a consistent chance. I was completely aware of how weak he looked in his couple of games up this year. I pointed it out here. But all he's doing in the AHL right now is treading water. He's got to sink or swim in the NHL.
Give him a stretch of 10 games with a scoring line. Hell, Babcock has already shown he doesn't care about production, he's had Datsyuk with Abby and Cleary for a bunch of games already and they've put up nothing at ES. Give Nyquist that same opportunity. If he can't do anything with it, then that's that. He's a likely bust. But let's at least TRY?
It's just amazing that some players never have to prove themselves, like Cleary, Abby, Franzen, Quincey, Kronwall. And other players are constantly in the doghouse. Kindl, Filppula, Nyquist. It's like, if you're on Babcock's secret list, no matter how terrible you play, you're not getting scratched or demoted. But if you're not on it, heaven forbid you don't score a hattrick every shift, because if you don't, good luck seeing the ice again.