Gustav Nyquist Listed As “Day-to-Day” After Knee-On-Knee Injury

The Red Wings were having themselves a good first period. They were up 2-0 courtesy of a goal from Gustav Nyquist at the 9:10 mark of the period. Nyquist was building himself a nice little hot streak. It was his third goal in four games, which doesn’t include the shootout winner in Florida that lifted the Red Wings out of their six game losing slump. Since that game, Detroit has won twice more, going 3-1-0 in their last four games. Then, the injury happened.

There was 3:02 left in the first period when Nyquist collided with Erik Gryba at the Red Wings blueline. Neither player saw the other as their knees came into contact and Nyquist dropped to the ice. He limped off while play was still live and keeled over in what looked like an agonizing pain when he got to the bench. The play was called dead and, when it was resumed, Nyquist was walked down the tunnel to the locker room. He didn’t play for the rest of the game. Here is the full segment:

The injury couldn’t have come at a worse time for Nyquist and the team. While the Red Wings’ top line has taken a backseat this year to the Kid Line, Nyquist still has five goals, tied for second on the team, and eight points. He has the third best 5v5 on-ice Shots-For percentage and the fourth best independent Corsi-For among team forwards who have played more than 25 minutes (per naturalstattrick.com). His 5v5 play has been key to the Red Wings last four wins.

Luckily, Ken Holland told the Detroit Free Press during the second intermission that there was no ligament damage in Nyquist’s knee. After the game, Jeff Blashill revealed that the injury wasn’t as bad as it initially looked and Nyquist would be listed as day-to-day.

The revelation of the lack of severity of Nyquist’s injury completely rules out the need to call up a prospect from Grand Rapids. Both David Booth and Luke Witkowski are on the road with the team and can dress if Nyquist isn’t ready to go. Booth will likely be the one who draws in against the Canucks if required and the lines will shift back to normal now that they don’t need a specialized match-up against the Connor McDavid line. This would mean that one of Marty Frk or Scott Wilson will slide up the depth chart to fill the spot that Nyquist vacated.

It’s not a bad thing that Detroit doesn’t have to call anyone up. Neither of the two prospects at the top of the Red Wings depth chart in Grand Rapids would be ready to go right now. Tyler Bertuzzi is just coming off of a wrist inflammation injury and has played in two games. Though he did score a goal in his second game back, he’s still got some more conditioning to do before he’s NHL ready. Then, there’s the mysterious case of Evgeny Svechnikov who just hasn’t been himself since he returned from his preseason neck injury. He was a healthy scratch against the Milwaukee Admirals tonight.

One thing is for sure: the Red Wings need Nyquist in the lineup to bolster their scoring and 5v5 play. Hopefully he won’t be out for too long – or at all.