(Another in a series of player profiles prior to training camp.)

Gustav Nyquist

Position: Left wing/Right wing

Age: 28 (on Sept. 1)

Height/Weight: 5-11/184

2016-17 stats: 76 games, 12 goals, 36 assists, 48 points, even plus-minus rating, 18 penalty minutes.

Career stats: 337 games, 88 goals, 118 assists, 206 points, plus-5 rating, 96 penalty minutes; (playoffs) 35 games, four goals, four assists, eight points, plus-3 rating, 10 penalty minutes.

Contract status: Two years remaining at a cap hit of $4.75 million (actual salary $5.25 million and $5.5 million).

2016-17 in review: Ranked second on team in assists and points. ... Registered career-high 36 assists (previous high was 27 in 2014-15) ... Struggled first half (five goals, 19 points in 41 games), productive second half (seven goals, 29 points in 35 games). ... Went 21 games without a goal from Nov. 25 to Jan. 10 and had just one goal during a stretch of 35 games. ... Goal total has declined in each of the past three seasons (from 28 to 27 to 17 to 12). ... Much more effective at home (eight goals, 32 points, plus-9 in 36 games) than on the road (four goals, 16 points, minus-9 in 38 games). ... Received six-game suspension for high-sticking Minnesota's Jared Spurgeon on Feb. 12. ... Suspension snapped his streak of 264 consecutive regular season games. ... Recorded fewest power-play goals (two) and tied for the fewest power-play points (nine) in four seasons as a regular. ... Lowest shooting percentage (7.3 percent) in past four seasons. ... Went 3 for 6 in the shootout. ... Ice time increased from 15:10 to a career-high 17:26 per game.

2017-18 outlook: A team that struggles offensively could use more goals from Nyquist. It would help if he could return to his form from 2013-14 and 2014-15, when he combined for 55 goals.

Perhaps he's destined to be more of a set-up man than finisher, since that's the kind of player he was in college at Maine (three seasons) and in the AHL with the Grand Rapids Griffins (two seasons), when he produced far more assists.

But he still needs to score more than 12 goals. He has not become the "go-to guy" coach Jeff Blashill envisioned when he took over as coach.

Part of the problem is he's not shooting as much (2.06 shots per game the past two seasons, after averaging 2.5 shots the previous two seasons). The team's struggles on the power play also have hurt his production (or maybe it's the other way around). Nyquist had 20 power-play goals in 2013-14 and 2014-15 combined but only nine in the previous two seasons combined.

He's a creative player who's at his best when he's skating up the ice with the puck and making things happen. If he's not going to top 25 goals again he must at least be more consistent in contributing assists. Many of his points last season came after the team was out of playoff contention.

Nyquist often is mentioned in the media as a potential trading chip, but his no-trade clause took effect on July 1.

Key question: Will Nyquist continue to be more of a facilitator than a finisher, or can he regain his goal-scoring touch?