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Gustav Nyquist Appreciation Thread

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Him being awesome is great, but I'm extremely wary of the therefore-we-don't-need-to-worry-about-adding-a-big-name-scorer reasoning. If there's one thing this season has taught us, it's that things don't go as planned, and you can never have too much depth. (OK, that's two things. But they're related.) I remember people thinking our blue line was fine because we overachieved last season (a shortened season).

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Guest DeGraa55

Actually we still need a legitimate power forward. We have plenty of small two way euros.

Then again maybe jurco could be the power forward but I'd still like someone proven in the short term though.

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Nyquist's 19 goals in 43 games are good for tops on the team, and prorated over 82 games puts him at a 36 goal pace as a rookie with ever-rotating linemates and responsibilities. The sky is the limit for this kid in coming years and really shows more glaringly the poor free agent decisions Holland has made over the past 4-5 years.

Until his hand was forced, Holland had through his own awful signings of Samuelsson, Bertuzzi, Cleary, and Tootoo buried our 3rd-most talented skater in the minors. Too many signing touted as "bargains" or "good fits" as an excuse to sign inferior players to fill the wrong roles on the wrong side of their prime instead of signing a single impact player or allowing over-ripe prospects to step up and learn.

Nyquist, Jurco, Sheahan, Glendening >>>> Samuelsson, Bertuzzi, Cleary, Tootoo

Simply put: Stop signing over-priced plugs as some consolation price for missing out on true impact players. Hopefully next season we cut some fat, use what we have in our young guys, and sign someone useful to fill important roles - a big bodied scorer and a top-4 defenseman. Looking down the line, the only UFAs that could/should be resigned are Legwand, Alfie, and Gustavsson.

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I'll say this, I did not realize how fast Nyquist was until last night. I knew he was quick, but not fast like that. It was appropriate that we played the Leafs last night because Nyquist looked A LOT like Phil Kessel in terms of his explosive first strides and quick wrister. Kid is fast.

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I'll say this, I did not realize how fast Nyquist was until last night. I knew he was quick, but not fast like that. It was appropriate that we played the Leafs last night because Nyquist looked A LOT like Phil Kessel in terms of his explosive first strides and quick wrister. Kid is fast.

He's got everything, skating wise. Quickness, agility, acceleration, and straight-up speed. As much as I want to see us get bigger and meaner, speed and skill is increasingly where it's at, and Nyquist is a really good example.

Just a joy to watch.

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Nyquist's 19 goals in 43 games are good for tops on the team, and prorated over 82 games puts him at a 36 goal pace as a rookie with ever-rotating linemates and responsibilities. The sky is the limit for this kid in coming years and really shows more glaringly the poor free agent decisions Holland has made over the past 4-5 years.

Until his hand was forced, Holland had through his own awful signings of Samuelsson, Bertuzzi, Cleary, and Tootoo buried our 3rd-most talented skater in the minors. Too many signing touted as "bargains" or "good fits" as an excuse to sign inferior players to fill the wrong roles on the wrong side of their prime instead of signing a single impact player or allowing over-ripe prospects to step up and learn.

Nyquist, Jurco, Sheahan, Glendening >>>> Samuelsson, Bertuzzi, Cleary, Tootoo

Simply put: Stop signing over-priced plugs as some consolation price for missing out on true impact players. Hopefully next season we cut some fat, use what we have in our young guys, and sign someone useful to fill important roles - a big bodied scorer and a top-4 defenseman. Looking down the line, the only UFAs that could/should be resigned are Legwand, Alfie, and Gustavsson.

I know everybody's excited about Nyquist and I am too, but I think there's a jump in the logic of your argument. You say that Holland "buried our 3rd-most talented skater in the minors", which he may look like now, but he certainly wasn't established as such when he was sent down. To remind people of his NHL stats in the past 2 years:

11-12: 18GP: 1G, 6A = 7pts

12-13: 22GP: 3G, 3A = 6pts

No GM would see those numbers and conclude "we don't need to sign any UFAs - lets just let our young star shine." I'm not defending signing Sammy or Cleary, but we needed other help. There was certainly no guarantee that Gus would be as good as he's been this year.

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I know everybody's excited about Nyquist and I am too, but I think there's a jump in the logic of your argument. You say that Holland "buried our 3rd-most talented skater in the minors", which he may look like now, but he certainly wasn't established as such when he was sent down. To remind people of his NHL stats in the past 2 years:

11-12: 18GP: 1G, 6A = 7pts

12-13: 22GP: 3G, 3A = 6pts

No GM would see those numbers and conclude "we don't need to sign any UFAs - lets just let our young star shine." I'm not defending signing Sammy or Cleary, but we needed other help. There was certainly no guarantee that Gus would be as good as he's been this year.

Calling him the third most talented skater is an overstatement, but after last season it was pretty clear Nyquist deserved time on Wings, especially after the playoffs. The only reason he wasn't was his contract status and the team's cap situation.

Who knows what he would've done for the Wings during that stretch, but I doubt he would've done worse than whoever he would've replaced.

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I'll say this, I did not realize how fast Nyquist was until last night. I knew he was quick, but not fast like that. It was appropriate that we played the Leafs last night because Nyquist looked A LOT like Phil Kessel in terms of his explosive first strides and quick wrister. Kid is fast.

He looked a lot like Phil Kessel, but he thankfully looked nothing like Phil Kessel while looking a lot like Phil Kessel ifyaknowwhattamean...

*insert random American Phil picture*

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Simply put: Stop signing over-priced plugs as some consolation price for missing out on true impact players. Hopefully next season we cut some fat, use what we have in our young guys, and sign someone useful to fill important roles - a big bodied scorer and a top-4 defenseman. Looking down the line, the only UFAs that could/should be resigned are Legwand, Alfie, and Gustavsson.

Agreed on Legwand and Alfie, but not Gus. Nothing against him, but he can't stay healthy, and you'd have to think it will be time for Mrazek to be the backup starting next year. He has nothing left to prove in the AHL. It is time for him to star getting more ice time at the NHL level.

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Agreed on Legwand and Alfie, but not Gus. Nothing against him, but he can't stay healthy, and you'd have to think it will be time for Mrazek to be the backup starting next year. He has nothing left to prove in the AHL. It is time for him to star getting more ice time at the NHL level.

I would like to see that happen, but history tells me we won't see it for a few more years unfortunately.

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I would like to see that happen, but history tells me we won't see it for a few more years unfortunately.

Which would be a big mistake. I'm tired of management being so tentative with these players. I'm not happy about all of the injuries but I'm not upset that's forced management (aka Holland) to play these kids finally in the NHL. The overripeness has to stop!

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Just my impression of Gus Gus, but he's what I think of in terms of a Red Wing player. Respectful, humble, talented, team player -- and will deke the socks off any given goalie, with just a little bit of opportunity.

I just love this guy. :wub:

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Calling him the third most talented skater is an overstatement, but after last season it was pretty clear Nyquist deserved time on Wings, especially after the playoffs. The only reason he wasn't was his contract status and the team's cap situation.

Who knows what he would've done for the Wings during that stretch, but I doubt he would've done worse than whoever he would've replaced.

Not sure it was really all that clear after last season, but regardless; Bert, Sammy, and Tootoo were all signed before last season and unfortunately we weren't able to buy out any of them.

And for some perspective, since it's a little too easy to judge solely on hindsight, stats for Bert and Sammy prior to signing their latest deals:

Bert: 71gp, 14g, 38p

Sammy: 54gp, 14g, 31p

(Even Tootoo was coming off a 30p season, though I think he was signed for a completely different role, and scoring wasn't really a factor.)

They were signed as depth/complementary scorers. Short-term, I believe precisely because of the kids. And it's not like they're in their 50s or anything, and we should have had any reason to suspect they would both miss basically a full year injured, and then be so ineffective after (though I'd say Bert hasn't been horrible). Would have been nice had they been one year deals, but I'd say it was only injuries that really made that an issue.

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