Summer Spotlight: Gustav Nyquist

Number: 14
Birth date: Sept. 1, 1989 (age 33 today)
Birthplace:Halmstad, Sweden
Height, Weight: 5-11, 176
Stats: 82 GP, 18-35-53
Contract:Signed through 2022-23 season (One year remaining until UFA status)

The area of a circle will always be the constant pi multiplied by the radius squared. Cans of Arizona iced tea will always cost 99 cents.
And Gus Nyquist will play every game in an NHL season, finishing with a line of about 21 goals, 30 assists and 51 points.
Nyquist has been an NHL regular for the past eight seasons, and in six of them, he's skated in every game he could including this past season when he was one of two CBJ players to skate in all 82 games. One of the years he fell short of the 100 percent record, he missed just six games.
And for every 82 games he's played in his NHL career, Nyquist has posted an average line of 21-30-51, totals that were eerily similar to the 18-35-53 he posted a year ago for the Blue Jackets.
As far as the NHL is concerned, he's Mr. Consistency -- except for the one outlier. All those years of being in the lineup each night led to a nagging shoulder injury that finally needed surgery in late 2020, resulting in Nyquist missing all 56 games of the shortened 2021 campaign.
It was tough for a player who was known for his trademark dependability, but perhaps it's no surprise he responded last year by answering the bell every night.
"Just playing the 82, that's something I take a lot of pride in," he said. "That was nice personally just to know that your body is healed and feeling good and able to do that because it's a long season. It's a grind. You're not always going to feel great every game. No one does, I don't care who you are. It's just the league. So that part was really nice.
"And honestly, just to play hockey again. That was my first injury really. I have never been away from the game so for the first time I realized how much I missed it basically and it was really nice to play again."
The Blue Jackets were happy to have him back, as the first-time alternate captain played in every situation and embraced the leadership role the letter on his sweater would suggest. And Nyquist has made it clear that his three years in the capital city have made him want to see out the current reset of the CBJ roster so he can be part of the success that seems on the horizon.

Top Moment of 2021-22

It's a little tough picking one of these for Nyquist, as he somehow finished with no multigoal games and zero game-winning goals among his 18 tallies. In fact, 13 of his goals actually came in CBJ losses, making him one of the more snakebitten players on the team. But Nyquist might have had his best game of the year April 9 when he returned to Detroit to take on his former team. Not only did he finish a season-best plus-4, his patience allowed him to find Jack Roslovic in overtime for the game-winning, hat trick tally in a contentious 5-4 victory.

A Nyquist Highlight

Stat to Know

According to Natural Stat Trick, Nyquist had a grand total of less than 10 minutes of penalty killing time in his NHL career under his belt before he arrived in Columbus. John Tortorella noticed in Nyquist's first season with the Jackets that he had the game to fill the role, and that 2019-20 season saw him dip his toe into the water. Finally, last year, Nyquist was a full-time penalty killer, finishing third among CBJ forwards in PK time behind Sean Kuraly and Eric Robinson. And Nyquist certainly responded, as his four shorthanded goals tied for third in the NHL.

2022-23 Expectations

How about 82 games played, around 20 goals and 50 points? As we said, Nyquist is about as consistent as they come, and even though he is the second oldest player on the CBJ roster, there's no indication that any drop-off in production is coming. Expect him to again skate on both the power play and the penalty kill, to be a wing who can play anywhere in the lineup, and to again provide a professional effort every time he shows up to the rink.