While Mark Stone and Matt Duchene have garnered the majority of the attention among Ottawa’s pending unrestricted free agents, Ryan Dzingel’s situation is certainly worth monitoring as well. The 26-year-old is in the midst of a career year and already has 20 goals and 21 assists on the season in 53 games. His future with the team appears to be dependent on what happens with Stone and Duchene but as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch notes, the asking price appears to be quite high, coming in between $5.5MM and $6MM on a long-term deal. Even though Dzingel has a chance to reach 30 goals this season, that price tag may very well be too rich for the Senators which should increase his odds of being dealt by the February 25th trade deadline.
More from the Atlantic:
- Canadiens winger Charles Hudon was expected to play on Saturday night but was a late scratch which fueled some trade speculation. To that end, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman notes (video link) that Montreal has been looking for a mid-round pick for the 24-year-old. Last season, Hudon put up a respectable 30 points in 72 games but has had difficulties staying in the lineup in 2018-19 and has been quiet when he has played as he has just three goals and two assists in 30 contests this season. He’s earning the league minimum salary of $650K this season and will be eligible for salary arbitration in the summer.
- The Maple Leafs announced (Twitter link) that they have activated winger Tyler Ennis off of injured reserve. He has been out since late December after sustaining a broken ankle. The 29-year-old had gotten off to a decent start with Toronto with 11 points in 33 games before the injury while holding his own on the top line at times. No corresponding roster move needed to be made as they had an open roster spot after waiving and demoting Martin Marincin last weekend.
Marincin is looking to become the next Joffry Lupel, although with Lamarillo gone, Dubas may not be ready to open his basement as an IR dungeon for Leafs rag.