3 Potential Trade Destinations For Blue Jackets' Gustav Nyquist

The Columbus Blue Jackets sit at the bottom of the standings with no good things on the horizon this season. They've been plagued with injuries and it has derailed whatever chances they had heading into the season. The defence is depleted and many of their forwards are young. Saying this, they are more than likely sellers at the trade deadline and teams will be calling for one of their veteran forwards in particular, Gustav Nyquist.

There are three teams at this time who could use Nyquist's services as he could provide stability and scoring from the wing in the middle-six. Those teams are the Calgary Flames, Winnipeg Jets, and Pittsburgh Penguins. All three teams have playoff aspirations and have either struggled with injuries in that area of their lineup or players aren't producing.

The Penguins have a few runs left in them and have started to turn things around after a rough stretch of hockey. This doesn't change the fact that they need help on the wing in their bottom-six. One player especially who has disappointed has been Kasperi Kapanen. The team has scratched him a number of times and he's played only 13 games. In those games he has just one goal and his overall play hasn't been impressive either. If the Penguins could upgrade by moving on from Kapanen and acquiring Nyquist, they would have a better chance at making another run.

The Flames have tried to rely on their forward group as a whole to provide the team with scoring rather than allowing the top line to carry the offence like they did last season. Many players haven't got off to the best starts offensively and it's a reason why the Flames are barely in a playoff spot. The wing has been a known problem since before the season and they could address the issue by acquiring someone like Nyquist. His consistency is hard to find as he's a four-time 20-goal scorer and has put up 40 or more points in all eight seasons where he's played at least 50 games.

The Jets have played well this season despite dealing with a number of injuries up front. With Mason Appleton, Morgan Barron, and Nikolaj Ehlers on the injured reserve, there are a number of forwards playing too high in the lineup. Nyquist is able to play anywhere in the top-nine and give the Jets better options now and better depth when players return from injury.

There's no question Nyquist will be traded and the Blue Jackets will get a fair return for the forward.