This is a solid move for the Sharks, who are hungry to get back to the Stanley Cup finals (they lost to Pittsburgh in 2015-16). Nyquist will provide added scoring depth to a team that was already rather deep. He joins fellow Swede Erik Karlsson, captain Joe Pavelski, veteran playmaker Joe Thornton and winger Joonas Donskoi as some of the pending unrestricted free agents on the Sharks. San Jose is all in this year, and they had already traded away first rounders in both 2019 and 2020.

For Detroit, moving Nyquist was somewhat of a no-brainer. First, his status as a pending UFA made the decision to trade him easier. Secondly, the last two first rounders for the Red Wings were scoring forwards (Filip Zadina in 2018 and Michael Rasmussen in 2017), so they should be able to move on nicely. In exchange, Detroit received two second rounders, potentially (the '20 third rounder can become a second rounder if San Jose reaches the Cup finals or if Nyquist re-signs with the Sharks).

Nyquist was having a decent 2018-19 campaign, but he might actually up his scoring pace now that he is with San Jose. That said, be careful here. First, Nyquist has never played for any other NHL organization, and former linemate Tomas Tatar had a lot of trouble adjusting to his move from Detroit to Vegas last season. Secondly, Nyquist is not guaranteed to receive much time on the power play in San Jose. Therefore, be cautious if you plan to acquire Nyquist via trade (but he is worth picking up if currently available).