4. Gustav Nyquist
Nashville Predators
This is where we get to the players who are strictly trying to pay almost nothing for a player who comes with risk but could add something to the bottom six. Let’s start with Gustav Nyquist. The Nashville Predators are a tire fire this season, seeing the worst Juuse Saros season of his career and an offense that’s been incredibly unlucky. Barry Trotz will look to get optimal value for his assets, but he has to know that Nyquist has no value right now.
Nyquist has just nine goals and 20 points this season. He’s not really on the radar for most teams, as he’s on pace for 29-30 points. That’s not very good, especially considering he had 72 points for these same Predators last season. He was a huge surprise for the Preds, and they thought he would provide more this season.
The Predators would have to accept the highest price, which we can’t see being higher than a fourth-round pick at this point depending on how much of the contract the Devils are expected to cover.
Even with how bad Nyquist has been this season, he still has more points than Cotter, Haula, Tomas Tatar, Nathan Bastian, and Curtis Lazar. He would be an upgrade to this lineup for a price anyone would be happy to pay, and if the Predators take on some of the contract, the Devils could even continue adding.