It was easy to gloss over a minor part of the trade that brought Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway to the Boston Bruins last week, but it ended up helping out the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday.
The Wild were actually the third team involved in the deal that sent the two veterans from the Washington Capitals to Boston with Minnesota taking on a portion of Orlov's salary and receiving a 2023 fifth-round draft pick from the Bruins in return.
The Wild didn't waste much time using that asset, flipping the draft choice for Columbus Blue Jackets forward Gustav Nyquist.
The acquisition of Nyquist was an interesting one for the Wild since the 33-year-old hasn't played since Jan. 25 after being placed on injured reserve with a shoulder injury. At the beginning of the month, the Blue Jackets announced Nyquist would miss the remainder of the season, but he didn't rule out returning at the end of the regular season or the playoffs.
Nyquist can be an impact player when on the ice as he recorded 10 goals and 12 assists for 22 points in 48 games with the Blue Jackets this season.
Minnesota is right in the middle of the playoff race in the tightly contested Western Conference, holding onto third place in the Central Division by a single point over the Winnipeg Jets entering Tuesday night.
The Wild seem to be doing everything they can to make sure they don't relinquish that spot. Prior to adding Nyquist, Minnesota pulled off a deal with the Capitals to obtain former Bruins forward Marcus Johansson.
But in landing Nyquist, the Wild sure have the Bruins to thank.
