Gustav Nyquist (Credit: Mark Newman/Grand Rapids Griffins)
Gustav Nyquist is showing no signs of running out of gas.
In his first season out of college, the 22-year-old Swedish left-winger started hot with the Grand Rapids Griffins and has stayed that way, riding remarkable consistency to an American Hockey League all-star spot in January.
Nyquist, second in AHL rookie scoring with 51 points in 49 games, has averaged a point-per-game every month of the season except one — November, when he missed the mark by just two points — and his slumps have been few and far between. Only three times has he gone without a point for more than one game, and his three-game pointless drought in January was his longest of the season.
“Most college kids come here and at the 40-game mark, they run out of gas, but Gus, this hasn’t bothered him at all,” said Griffins head coach Curt Fraser. “He continues to lead us offensively. He’s generated a ton of offensive opportunities for us.”
The 5-foot-11 185-pounder was drafted by the Red Wings out of the Swedish junior ranks in the fourth round (121st overall) in 2008. He came to North America the following season and blossomed into a Hobey Baker finalist in three NCAA seasons with the Maine Black Bears.
With the Griffins, he’s played both left and right wings as well as the point on the power play, and he’s on pace to become the first Red Wings prospect in Grand Rapids to average a point per game since Jiri Hudler did it in 2005-06 with 96 points in 76 contests.
Nyquist, always known for being a responsible two-way player, has a plus-3 rating and is second on the team with 136 shots, an average of 2.75 per game.
“He’s fast and when he’s got the puck, he’s very good at protecting it, he’s an excellent playmaker, and he’s starting to get better at shooting the puck more,” Fraser said. “A lot of our guys here are skilled guys who look to pass, but he’s starting to shoot more this year and that will really help him when he gets to the NHL.”
Nyquist is expected to challenge for a full-time NHL job as early as next season and is at the front of the line among forward prospects.
NOTES: The Red Wings gave defenseman Brendan Smith a big vote of confidence at the trade deadline, dealing away veteran Mike Commodore and anointing Smith the team’s No. 8 blueliner. Smith was recalled and will be one of seven defensemen on the NHL roster while Jonathan Ericsson is injured … Defenseman Alexei Marchenko (CSKA Moscow, KHL) returned to the KHL for two games this week after a five-game stint in Russia’s junior league. He has missed most of the season with a knee injury … Center Calle Jarnkok (Brynas, SEL) has been sidelined with a knee injury but hopes to be back in time for the IIHF world championship.
Following is this week’s statistical report.
SKATERS: REGULAR-SEASON REPORT
| NAME | TEAM | LEVEL | LEAGUE | GP | G | A | P | PIM | +/- | SOG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coetzee, Willie | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 44 | 9 | 9 | 18 | 15 | -3 | 102 |
| Ferraro, Landon | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 41 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 34 | -4 | 60 |
| Nyquist, Gustav | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 49 | 17 | 34 | 51 | 16 | +3 | 136 |
| Tatar, Tomas | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 53 | 14 | 25 | 39 | 33 | +7 | 159 |
| Andersson, Joakim | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 50 | 14 | 18 | 32 | 20 | +2 | 100 |
| Aubry, Louis-Marc | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 39 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 19 | -4 | 63 |
| Callahan, Mitchell | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 38 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 78 | -2 | 51 |
| Ehrhardt, Travis | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 17 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 17 | +4 | 22 |
| Lashoff, Brian | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 53 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 27 | -8 | 80 |
| Pare, Francis | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 52 | 9 | 19 | 28 | 14 | -9 | 123 |
| Parkes, Trevor | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 38 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 21 | +1 | 61 |
| Raedeke, Brent | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 45 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 24 | -1 | 70 |
| Smith, Brendan | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 47 | 10 | 22 | 32 | 74 | +7 | 99 |
| Pyett, Logan | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 50 | 2 | 17 | 19 | 44 | -1 | 121 |
| Nestrasil, Andrej | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 11 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | -1 | 17 |
| Fournier, Gleason | Grand Rapids | PRO | AHL | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Fournier, Gleason | Toledo | PRO | ECHL | 51 | 2 | 15 | 17 | 32 | -5 | 95 |
| Nestrasil, Andrej | Toledo | PRO | ECHL | 40 | 5 | 22 | 27 | 16 | -5 | 71 |
| Parkes, Trevor | Toledo | PRO | ECHL | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +1 | 17 |
| Ouellet, Xavier | B.-Boisbriand | JR | QMJHL | 55 | 18 | 32 | 50 | 58 | +5 | 170 |
| Macek, Brooks | Calgary | JR | WHL | 51 | 14 | 21 | 35 | 19 | +7 | N/A |
| Nedomlel, Richard | Swift Current | JR | WHL | 64 | 8 | 33 | 41 | 77 | -34 | N/A |
| Tvrdon, Marek | Vancouver | JR | WHL | 51 | 23 | 38 | 61 | 43 | -2 | N/A |
| Sproul, Ryan | Sault Ste. Marie | JR | OHL | 53 | 17 | 26 | 43 | 47 | +12 | N/A |
| Quine, Alan | Peterborough | JR | OHL | 58 | 27 | 35 | 62 | 21 | -18 | N/A |
| Jurco, Tomas | Saint John | JR | QMJHL | 45 | 29 | 36 | 65 | 37 | +43 | 177 |
| Hudon, Philippe | Victoriaville | JR | QMJHL | 26 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 22 | -6 | 53 |
| Jensen, Nick | St. Cloud State | COL | NCAA | 34 | 6 | 22 | 28 | 2 | +10 | 66 |
| Nicastro, Max | Boston U. | COL | NCAA | 27 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 32 | -2 | 41 |
| Cayer, Julien | Clarkson | COL | NCAA | 27 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 30 | 0 | 46 |
| Marshall, Ben | Minnesota | COL | NCAA | 33 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 27 | +13 | 65 |
| Sheahan, Riley | Notre Dame | COL | NCAA | 33 | 9 | 15 | 24 | 22 | 0 | 109 |
| Pulkkinen, Teemu | Jokerit | EUR | FIN | 49 | 14 | 19 | 33 | 8 | +2 | 204 |
| Almqvist, Adam | HV-71 | EUR | SEL | 42 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 26 | +16 | 66 |
| Axelsson, Dick | MoDo | EUR | SEL | 34 | 9 | 10 | 19 | 57 | -9 | 77 |
| Jarnkrok, Calle | Brynas | EUR | SEL | 48 | 14 | 22 | 36 | 22 | -5 | 102 |
| Backman, Mattias | Linkoping | EUR | SEL | 39 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 14 | +4 | 54 |
| Marchenko, Alexei | CSKA Moscow | EUR | KHL | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -4 | 3 |
| Marchenko, Alexei | CSKA Moscow | EUR-JR | MHL | 5 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 10 | +2 | 7 |
GOALIES: REGULAR SEASON REPORT
| NAME | TEAM | LEAGUE | GP | W | L | O/S | SO | GAA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mrazek, Petr | Ottawa | OHL | 45 | 26 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 2.89 | .913 |
| Pearce, Jordan | Grand Rapids | AHL | 17 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 3.53 | .874 |
| McCollum, Thomas | Grand Rapids | AHL | 15 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 3.59 | .883 |
| McCollum, Thomas | Toledo | ECHL | 13 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 2.68 | .905 |
| Pearce, Jordan | Toledo | ECHL | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4.05 | .879 |
Sounds like the prospects are developing well. Nyquist looks great! Great for B. Smith for getting the call up. I just wish that Tatar would put up some better numbers. He’s probably sulking because he hasn’t made the team this year. Still kind of curious to know whats going on with Nicastro and his assault charges. Even though I said the prospects keep developing well I have to admit I’m a little disappointed with McCollum but happy to see Mrazek doing well in Ottawa.
Tatar most certainly is not sulking. Feature next week.
Mark my words…Nyquist will be in the Red Wings lineup come playoff time.
bobafett – couldn’t agree more, he’ll be much like Helm in ’08-’09 just with hands!
Tatar is not sulking, he has been playing great. Kenny H said a couple of weeks ago that he was the best player in GR and that is why he was called up twice but because the other guy was a game time decision he did not get to play. He does not have as many points as most people think he should but he has been playing great and with him on the line with Minard & Johnson has been awesome, Tatar has been feeding Minard a lot of pucks because he is skating & checking very hard. I think he will be on the Wings next year!
Consider them marked, but I think if they wanted nyquist in the playoffs he would be getting some NHL playing time about now. And as far as I’ve read, Tatar isn’t the sulking type. Seems like a team guy All the way. And I don’t see anything wrong with 39 PTS in 53 games for a player his age.
Unfortunately it seems to be the Wings farm system is neither deep nor talented. The secret is out in Europe every team scouts there, the days of undiscovered gems are over. To think that Hudler had 96 points, and he is an ok pro, their prospects don’t even come close to that production. Helm contributes defensively., abdelkader is a career 4 th liner. Kindl isn’t that good. It’s been a long time since the wings have drafted well. Why do you think they keep signing end of career players like Bertuzzi and Holmstrom to extensions? Because nothing come down the road to back fill. Jimmy Howard is an anomaly. He wasn’t that good in GR and his Wing call ups were dreadful, but managed to turn it around. I love the Wingsa d I love this site. But the farm system is not in good shape.
Bones, I disagree wholeheartedly…Hudler excelled in the AHL because he has great hands, a great shot, and great playmaking ability, but his lack of size and speed hold him back in the NHL. Furthermore, we have excellent depth and talent at all positions in our prospect pool:
Wingers – Nyquist, Tatar, Jurco, Tvrdon, Andersson
Centers – Jarnkrok, Sheahan
Defensemen – Smith, Ouellet, Sproul, Jensen, Backman, Marchenko
Goalies – Mrazek
All of these players have the potential to become average or above average players in the NHL. As for Bertuzzi and Holmstrom, well, Ken Holland’s loyalty to his vets is no secret…Holmstrom probably should have been replaced this season by Nyquist or Tatar, and Bertuzzi has size and net-front presence which we have a lack of. Finally, if anything Howard should serve as an example of why we shouldn’t give up on our prospects despite underwhelming results.
Bones, I’m with Joe L on this one. The Wings system is good right now. Better than it has been in a long time. Not sure why you feel so negatively about it. I haven’t seen anything from our top prospects to suggest our farm is in bad shape.
We have a handful of guys with lots of upside and potential. Have some faith.
Yes, I also think the Wings prospects are the best lot they have ever had at one time….but why is GR near the bottom of the AHL every year?….they seem to have enough veteran AHL’ers on the team to go with the young Wings, but have a hard time making the playoffs….seems strange to me…
Goaltending has been a huge problem for the Griffins for the last couple years. Fraser isn’t exactly a great coach either in my opinion. They can score a lot, but overall team defense is their issue. But you’d think guys like Exelby and Janik would settle it down.
Remember though, when Filppula and Hudler were in GR, they made the playoffs and challenged for the Calder Cup.
Bones: Helm has as third line center scored about as many points as Filppula did as a third line center, i.e. 30-40 per year. Look at some other teams: Vancouver’s third line center (Samuelson) has 11 points, Rangers’ (Boyle) has 15 points, Blues’ (Arnott) has 30 points, Predators’ (Spaling) has 19 points, Bruins’ (Campbell) has 13 points It’s not fair, and rather naïve, to expect Helm to score 60 points in his role. Helm’s still only 25 years old and has plenty of room for development. He has mentioned that he wants to work on his shot, for instance. With more experience comes greater confidence, poise, and ability to hang on to the puck and make plays. And yes, he is also very good defensively. With his game and upside, I wouldn’t trade him for any other NHL third line center.
I haven’t seen Nedomlel play, but if offensive production is his weakness he seems to be doing pretty well. Indeed many players drafted in 2011 seem to do well: Jurco, Oullet, Sproul, Quine, … With such low picks, it’s rather amazing how well the organization drafts.
Bones, did you happen to tune into the World Juniors at all ?
I spoke to Tatar on Monday and can confirm what others have said: sulking is not a word in Tatar’s vocabulary.
The kid just loves to play the game.
It does seem like goaltending has been an issue all year. Mcollum and Pearce have had some good games but have been up and down. I have listened to the last few games online and Ty Conklin has really stabilized the goaltending. He made 34 saves tonite and they won 4-3. He has won four straight games.
I also am puzzled as to why the Griffins are so up and down. Their effort fluctuates from game to game which should not be the case. Good mix of vets and rookies. I do wonder about Fraser the coach. Inconsistent effort is a coaching thing. There have been injuries and callups but every team has that. You cannot use that as an excuse. Lastly, I cannot emphasize how much Conklin has helped the goaltending. A veteran goalie with NHl experence makes a huge difference at that level.
Quick update: Calle Jarnkrok, who has had an injured knee, was back in the lineup today and scored a goal. Adam Almqvist is still out with an undisclosed injury but is expected back shortly.
Alls I am saying is the wings system is not very deep. If I am holland my lineup next year includes nyquist as 4th line center with jurco on the wing maybe with a tough guy on the wing like George Parros. My third line is helm abdelkader. Miller is having a good year but there are other guys that can do the same thing and bring a little more to the table like fight and hit. A Travis Moen would be great fit. Second line Zetterbwrg filpula and Shane Doan, time to let hudler walk. A bigger winger is way more valuable to filpula and Zetterbwrg than what people understand. Top line stays same with datsyuk franzen and bertuzzi. Let cleary walk, not as effective. And convince Holmstrom to hang em up. Defense, Lidstrom will come back for one more. Kronwall white Quincey erricsson and smith, kindl is 7 man. If Lidstrom retires you can go get an upgrade. Sign Doan Parros and Moen to manageable 2 year deals.
Lol @ bones. Dude is clueless.
Who is this guy!? Really
Joakim, thanks for the update. Two great Swedes there… Two important prospects IMO.
Bones – Stop this. The fact you suggest potential scorers in Jurco and Nyquist play grinder time is sad. Worst armchair GM ever,
Sign Parros and Moen while letting Cleary and Hudler walk. Ya lets just have a tough team that can not score goals. Unless we’re getting someone like Parise then I definitely keep Hudler this year. He is slowly returning to form and the 2nd line is lights out right now.
I truly hope that Bones is just a sharks fan or something and is messing with people, because those can’t be real opinions.
On a different note, awesome to hear that jarnkrok is back playing and scoring again. That kid can play.
Bones-
But the thing is they are pretty deep. Certainly in the top 12, if not top 10 or so groups in the league, which is impressive considering we always draft low. We’re good on forwards (but could always use more), and thanks to the most recent draft, we are at least better with defenseman thanks to guyslike Ouellet and Sproul. Goaltending is our only real big weakness, as Mrazek is the only standout in the system. Again, do we have guaranteed superstars? No, but we have some young, talented players with real potential.
Nyquist is posting better numbers with GR than Filppula did as an AHL rookie, Jarnkrok has numbers similar to Zetterberg at the same age, and Jurco is averaging like 1.5 points per game with the Sea Dogs, quelling his consistency criticisms from last season. I’m not saying these guys are going to all be superstars like Pav and Hank, but there’s a lot of talent and potential there.
I just think it’s a little odd to say our farm system isn’t deep, when most experts say otherwise. Especially since these guys are still all young. Give them time to grow.
Bones, to put it bluntly, you’re an idiot. I wont bother with your earlier drivel, I’ll just focus on your last response.
“Alls I am saying is the wings system is not very deep.” Im sorry you feel that way, Bones, but people who actually scout amateurs consistently rank the Redwings org. depth chart in the top half of the league, usually in the 10-15 range. That’s pretty remarkable for an organization with few high draft picks and only one decent goaltending prospect in the pipeline. The Wings prospect pool is littered with kids who project very in the pros.
“If I am holland my lineup next year includes nyquist as 4th line center with jurco on the wing maybe with a tough guy on the wing like George Parros. My third line is helm abdelkader. Miller is having a good year but there are other guys that can do the same thing and bring a little more to the table like fight and hit. A Travis Moen would be great fit.” Ohhhh look another slappy who insists Detroit needs to GET PHYSICAL for the upteenth year in a row. And we even have a Travis Moen mention! That’s so 2008, Bones. Parros? Jesus christ. Jurco? You’re basically suggesting Detroit’s gonna change 20 years of development philosophy for the sake of your pipe dream.
Go Wings.
as much as i would love to armchair gm, i think we’re all best off trusting holland. the man is by far the best in the game, and he has never let me down.
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