Ottawa Senators: Analyzing the Ryan Dzingel Trade

The Ottawa Senators decided it was Ryan Dzingel’s turn to be voted off the island.

On Saturday, two days before the trade deadline chaos, the Ottawa Senators traded another pending UFA to Columbus.

Ryan Dzingel was sent to the Columbus Blue Jackets, along with Calgary’s seventh-round pick in 2019, in exchange for winger Anthony Duclair, and two second-round picks (2020 and 2021). Dzingel will join Matt Duchene, whom the Sens had traded to Columbus just 24 hours prior.

That’s a fairly solid return for a great depth scorer, but it still doesn’t mean management should have traded Dzingel (Or Mark Stone for that matter).

What Did Columbus Get?

The Blue Jackets are getting a player who will help strengthen their top-six. On a second line with Pierre-Luc Dubois in the middle and Oliver Bjorkstrand or Josh Anderson on the right, Dzingel will continue to provide scoring. In 247 games with the Ottawa Senators, the 2011 seventh-round pick has 126 points. 44 of those points have come in 57 games this season, a new career high in scoring for the 26-year old.

What Did Ottawa Get?

It is fairly simple, the draft picks are the key acquisitions for the Sens in this trade. The 2020 pick gives the Sens three second rounders next year and they now have 15 picks in the first three rounds over the next three years, with another first-round pick included if Duchene re-signs with Columbus. Drafting seems to be how the Senators are going to find the talent for their rebuild, and the numerous selections will certainly help with that.

Then there’s Duclair. He’s 23-years old on a one-year, $650,000 contract and has 108 points in 267 games. The former third round selection (2011) is a little too old to call a prospect, but he still has time to show what he can do in the NHL. And he’s going to get that time too, as he is going be on the top line with Brady Tkachuk and Colin White in tonight’s game against the Washington Captials.

The Ottawa Senators Are No More

We’ll go a little more into this in another article, but the Ottawa Senators have blown up their team with nothing but a couple of columns (Thomas Chabot, Tkachuk) left standing. Dzingel and Stone could have been part of the foundation to hold the franchise together, but they were traded. Just because you got a fair amount in return for your three pending UFAs does not mean you made the right call in trading them. Ownership and management will realize this in the future, but the deed is already done.