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The Red Wings have traded Gustav Nyquist to the San Jose Sharks:
UPDATE: The Detroit #RedWings today acquired a second-round draft pick in the 2019 NHL Draft and a conditional third-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for RW Gustav Nyquist. pic.twitter.com/3gfwSmPVcy
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) February 25, 2019
It was just hours earlier that the two teams had faced off in Detroit, in which San Jose pulled off a two-goal deficit and Joe Pavelski scored a hat trick to cap off the win for the visiting team. Just before midnight, Bob McKenzie gave a little more life to what had previously only been rumors:
DET has asked Gustav Nyquist to waive his NTC to facilitate a trade to SJ. Nyquist is apparently willing to do so, which would pave the way for DET and SJ to finalize/formalize this transaction.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) February 25, 2019
Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait long to find out what the conditions were on the 2020 third rounder:
The conditional third-round draft pick in the 2020 NHL Draft would become a second-round pick in the same draft should the Sharks advance to the 2019 Stanley Cup Final or should Nyquist re-sign with the Sharks. https://t.co/ru8SKHFhuR
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) February 25, 2019
I know I was kind of hoping for more in return for Goose considering that the Red Wings got a first, second, and third in exchange for Tomas Tatar last year. However, the Sharks’ 2019 and 2020 picks are both up in the air due to the Erik Karlsson trade in September and further complicated by the Evander Kane trade a year ago.
The conditions on the third rounder are interesting because the Western Conference is kind of insanely bad, so the chances of the Sharks making the Cup Final aren’t all that terrible. Nyquist re-signing in San Jose sounds less likely until you consider the fact that they have 7 free agent forwards at the end of this season (now including Nyquist) and a whole lot of salary coming off the books. Of course, Erik Karlsson is also a UFA, but Joe Thornton is old and will probably not be back next season.
Finally, there is the little tidbit that the Red Wings are retaining some cash in the deal:
Also believe the Red Wings will be retaining around 30 percent of Nyquist’s salary in the trade to San Jose
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) February 25, 2019
This was confirmed in a subsequent tweet by LeBrun.
So that’s that: the Goose is gone. Honk honk, my friends.