Second best in any zone-entry statistics after Larkin.
Like, when Tatar dropped out of the current TOP9, I think it was good that he was gone. And it was also great that he will never return.
But I want to keep good players, drop worst ones, and Nyquist is definitely in the current TOP3. And I'm quite sure he would help the team at TOP6 level for next 3-4 years, until we have better kids.
Trading Nyquist would be positive asset management and extending him on the summer would be also positive asset management. If the cap space isn't going to a jackpot like Seguin+Karlsson, I'd keep him.
Those fancy stats in this instance prove how little they really mean. Who cares if he was second best or first best at getting into the zone, did he/team generate more pts because of it? His job is to score or help score, and he for the second year in a row, while playing with a still tremendous Zetterberg in both years, barely hit 40 pts despite the fact he gets a boatload of icetime. He should be a 60 pt player, not a barely half a pt a game player.
All these new or fancy stats, mean so little, as reality hits, and the only thing that matters, for an offensive player, is whether they got goals, assists, and points, and whether they set up a lot of chances at least. 20 goals and 40 pts is abysmal for an in his prime 1st line winger.
I like Nyquist and hoped he would be that 25-30 goal, 50-60 pt player he looked liked he would become, the last 2 seasons, both his pts totals and general effort level are missing. Many nights go by, where you don't even notice he was out there. Just like when Tatar was here, when he left we didn't lose out on any offence, because others took up the tiny bit of slack he left. If/when Gus gets traded, we won't notice any loss in offense, because most players playing 1st line minutes can hit 40 pts fairly easily. Like I said, if Gus brought other intangibles to the team, then 40 pts is ok or fine even, but he doesn't. He isn't great defensively, plays perimeter hockey, which is anti NHL these days, as most offense his done near the net, and he certainly doesn't bring any physicality to the table, so he doesn't do enough for what he gets paid and where he plays. If he was 9th in forward ice time with little PP time, with 20 goals and 40 pts, great, but he plays among the most in both categories.
