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So suddenly everyone in Detroit is all hyped up about this guy Nyquist. Apparently scoring 21 goals in the last 30 games of the season will do that.
Hockey East fans are already familiar with this Swedish upstart. (What? A Swede in the Detroit system? STOP ME IF YOU'VE HEARD THIS ONE BEFORE.) He played three years at University of Maine, leading the team in points all three years.
This year with Detroit, he has 28 goals and 20 assists in 57 games played, after starting the season down in Grand Rapids. He lead the Red Wings in goals scored, with Tomas Tatar having the second-most (19). Yeah, the Red Wings only had one player with more than 20 goals this year. Only two players on the Wings scored more points than Nyquist this season.
You know who has as many points as Nyquist on the Bruins? Carl Soderberg. That's right. PLAY LIKE CARL. If Nyquist were a Bruin, he'd be 8th on the team in points scored.
*clears throat* GUSTAV NYQUIST'S SEASON WAS UNSUSTAINABLE *drops mic*
— Willie Mays Hayes (@50_MissionCap) April 13, 2014
Yeah.
Here is his usage chart, courtesy of Hockey Abstract. As you can see, relative to the rest of his team, he plays against pretty good competition, and takes relatively middle-of-the-road o-zone starts.
He also did this, one time. What an asshole.
And this in the playoffs, which we hate slightly less:
Here's a daily dose of Detroit fan idiocy:
Gustav Nyquist was more valuable this year than Claude Giroux, and there's no argument that can prove me wrong.
— Bear Trapper Babs (@TheFakeBabs) April 13, 2014
In all seriousness, Nyquist is going to be one of the primary problems for the Bruins in round one. Let's all pray to Saint Patrice that Tuukka Rask channels every fibre of his Swede-hating Finnish being into making absolutely certain that Nyquist doesn't get to run rampant like he has for the last two months.