Former Ohio State standout Ryan Dzingel is headed back to Columbus, with Anthony Duclair and picks headed to the Ottawa Senators. Who wins the deal?
Blue Jackets get: F Ryan Dzingel, 2019 seventh-round pick (Calgary)
Senators get: F Anthony Duclair, 2020 second-round pick, 2021 second-round pick
Blue Jackets: B
Heading into the trade deadline, Dzingel was primed to be your prototypical "guy who seems like he won't cost much in a trade, but someone ends up overpaying because several teams covet him" type of player. And here we are, with Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen giving up two second-round picks (in 2020 and 2021) for him (along with Anthony Duclair, a throw-in).
Dzingel, 26, is having the best offensive campaign of his career in a contract year, as he goes unrestricted this summer. For many teams, the most appealing thing about him was his cap hit: a minuscule $1.8 million, which would have made him perfect for many capped-out contenders. The Blue Jackets weren't exactly against the ceiling, but as they load up for a run down the stretch, the flexibility no doubt helps.
Was the investment worth it? Mostly. Dzingel's 22 goals and 22 assists would rank him third and sixth, respectively, on the Jackets this season. He can play all three forward spots. Sure, his underlying numbers relative to those of his Senators teammates at 5-on-5 aren't that stellar -- his minus-2.10 relative scoring chance percentage, his minus-1.59 relative Corsi for percentage -- but there's something to be said for acquiring a player who is clearly singing for his next contract supper.
Then there's the Buckeye factor. Dzingel played for Ohio State University from 2011 to '14 and hails from Wheaton, Illinois. It's somewhat of a homecoming for him, and one wonders if this deal is the harbinger of his signing with the Jackets beyond this season, which, again, might be a good thing or a bad thing depending how much of an aberration this contract-year output ends up being.
Senators: A-
I have a theory about Senators GM Pierre Dorion after the past two days: He thought the return for Matt Duchene was pretty good, saw most observers felt the return was pretty good and decided he should probably keep making trades with Kekalainen because every other GM basically schools him.
If that's the new philosophy, good on him. Pulling two unconditional second-rounders for Dzingel is a solid return. Getting them in 2020 and 2021 further convinces me that Dorion is reading his own press clippings because the hockey punditry was enamored with the notion that the Senators could, in one scenario, end up with the Jackets' first-round picks in 2020 and 2021 in a post-Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky world.
As for Duclair ... this is his fifth team since 2015, and he arrives after Columbus coach John Tortorella embarrassed him to the media in a way that no NHLer has been embarrassed in recent memory. It was scathing: "I don't know if he can't comprehend it or if he's just stubborn. But he is running out of time," he said. "Here we are, the fourth team, another coach pissing and moaning about him. Scratching him. Benching him. Somewhere along the line, I think he has to understand, 'I have to be more attentive, and I have to be more consistent.' So in a roundabout way, I don't know what he is."
Yikes.
The Senators know what he is: a 23-year-old making just $650,000 and heading into arbitration-eligible restricted free agency. They'll have the rest of the season to see what they have in him and whether he can, ahem, "comprehend it."