Division rival puts two-time 20-goal scorer on waivers; should the Bruins put in a claim?
With the trade deadline fast approaching and the playoffs not too far off, teams in contention are beginning to address organizational needs and look for added depth to help them on their upcoming playoff runs. The Bruins are certainly expected to be among those teams.
Late Saturday, one of the B's most heated division rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs, swung a trade sending former Bruins winger Nick Ritchie and a conditional pick to Arizona in exchange for bruising defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin and utility forward Ryan Dzingel - the latter of whom they placed on waivers on Sunday.
Dzingel scored 23 goals back in the 2017-18 season and followed that up with a 22-goal season in 2018-19, both as a member of the Ottawa Senators. While the 29-year-old has seen a pretty drastic drop-off in production over the last few seasons, he is still a serviceable NHL forward.
The Wheaton, Illinois native can play center or either wing, which could be valuable when the injury bug bites. He is probably a better fit in a team's bottom-six at this point, but he has shown the ability to play in a top-six role and to actually produce there as well. The fact that he can play up or down in the lineup, depending on team needs, is very intriguing.
Dzingel is a pending UFA with a cap hit of just $1.1M, so this would be a very low-risk, high-potential reward scenario. On one hand, if Dzingel looks like he's lost a step and can't add anything to the B's at this stage of his career, they can simply waive him. If he goes unclaimed, his entire $1.1M cap hit can be buried in Providence. On the other hand, if on the odd chance Dzingel can return to form and chip in some secondary scoring, that could be invaluable down the home stretch and into the playoffs.
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