Wild trade draft picks to get Marcus Johansson from Capitals, Gustav Nyquist from Blue Jackets

Even with money to spend in their end-of-year budget, the Wild are looking for short-term help that doesn't cost high-end assets.

That's exactly what they accomplished in a pair of deals on Tuesday, reacquiring Marcus Johansson and bringing in the injured Gustav Nyquist for draft picks.

The Wild sent Washington a 2024 third-rounder for Johansson and landed Nyquist from Columbus for a fifth-round pick in this year's draft; the Blue Jackets are retaining half of Nyquist's contract.

Both players are on expiring deals.

"These two players I think are what we were missing, what we needed, and that is they're both highly skilled guys," General Manager Bill Guerin said. "They're excellent skaters, and I think they're going to provide us with just that natural ability out there. They're both effortless skaters and just high hockey sense guys that can make plays.

"I think we could really use that."

This is Johansson's second stint with the Wild in three seasons. He was here for the 2021 abbreviated schedule after the Wild traded Eric Staal to add Johansson from Buffalo. Johansson had six goals and eight assists while missing a chunk of time with injury, including getting knocked out of the playoffs with a broken arm.

Guerin called Johansson a "good fit" with versatility: He can play center and wing, and Guerin pegged Johansson as likely slotting on the second power-play unit. The 32-year-old scored 13 goals with the Capitals in 60 games this season. A veteran of 13 seasons and more than 800 games, Johansson also has 43 points in 103 playoff appearances.

Johansson was expected to arrive in Minnesota on Tuesday evening and practice with the team on Wednesday.

When Nyquist will join the Wild is less clear. He is sidelined with a shoulder injury suffered in January. The Blue Jackets announced Nyquist was expected to be out the rest of the season, but Guerin said that wasn't the case.

"He was a player we were interested [in] from way back," said Guerin, who felt Nyquist would have merited a heftier return if he was healthy. "Getting the phone call that he had gotten hurt was kind of a downer, but we're willing to take a chance and talking to him he feels good. We still have some time to get him back to being a healthy player, but it's a chance that we were willing to take.

"He's a veteran guy, so he knows his body. He knows what he has to do, and so we're confident that it'll work."

Guerin has a timeline in mind of when Nyquist could return but declined to reveal it; he also didn't specify where Nyquist is at in his recovery.

The pick Columbus received is the fifth-rounder the Wild secured last week from Boston when they retained part of Dmitry Orlov's contract. Nyquist, 33, is on injured reserve.

"We have to do our job here and make the playoffs," Guerin said. "That's going to give Gus the best chance to come in here and have an impact."

In 48 games before the injury, Nyquist tallied 10 goals and 12 assists. He had 18 goals last season. The left winger is at 700 career games, is a four-time 20-goal scorer and boasts 21 points in 65 playoff contests.

"He's extremely quick," Guerin said. "Really good hockey sense. Has the ability to make plays. I think the skating and the hockey sense is really what contributed to a lot of his success in the league."

After taking on the remainder of Johansson's one-year, $1.1 million deal and half of what's left on Nyquist's four-year, $22 million contract, the Wild are projected to have around $7 million in cap space on Friday when the NHL trade deadline expires, according to capfriendly.com.

If they do more shopping, expect the same criteria as these transactions.

"We won't waver from our plan," Guerin said.

Kirill Kaprizov was a force in the third period Sunday, his two goals shedding the Wild's deficit against Columbus in an eye-popping exhibit of skill and will.

But before he completed a natural hat trick in overtime, the finishing touch on a 3-2 comeback by the Wild, Kaprizov actually wanted to take himself off the ice.

Almost two minutes into the extra session, the Wild and Blue Jackets were about to square off for a neutral-zone faceoff when Kaprizov, who was in the midst of a shift, said the team needed a line change for a "faceoff guy."

"And I said, 'No, we need you out there,'" coach Dean Evason recalled.

The Wild kept Kaprizov in action because if Columbus won possession of the puck, the Wild wouldn't be able to get Kaprizov back in the play. Evason explained this to Kaprizov, who understood, but the interaction was telling about the superstar's attitude.

"[He] wasn't thinking of Kirill Kaprizov in that situation," Evason said. "He was thinking about the Minnesota Wild and what was best for the Minnesota Wild, which he perceived the best would be to win the faceoff. That is why he is who he is."

Twelve points.

That's how far back the Wild were from first place in the Central Division on Feb. 10, the team barely in a playoff position. Even on Feb. 16, they were 10 points out of the top spot.

But after a four-game win streak and five victories overall in their next six games, the Wild made up enough ground to close that gap to just a smattering of points and join the chase for the No. 1 seed, which also features Dallas, Colorado and Winnipeg.

"When things don't go your way and things are not going as planned, you just do whatever you can to survive type thing," Marcus Foligno said. "I just feel like we got a lot of great characters in this room where we just battled back. We've won close games.

"At the end of the day, it's about winning two points. But with the Central, measuring us against Dallas and Winnipeg and Colorado, I can see why we're contending for first place right now."

Although the Wild won't play the Stars again in the regular season, they will face the Jets and Avalanche.

The Wild will be at Winnipeg next Wednesday and in Colorado on March 29 before hosting the Jets on April 11 at Xcel Energy Center. They are 2-0 vs. Winnipeg and 0-2 against Colorado.

"You just want to be top of your division no matter what," Foligno said. "That's our mentality, to be No. 1. Right now, we have a chance to move up in there."