Are the Anaheim Ducks Poised to Make a Big Splash in Free Agency?

Ryan Dzingel (Columbus Blue Jackets/18-19′ Cap Hit: 1.8 million)

Yeah, I could’ve put Artemi Panarin here but if the Ducks won’t go high enough for Duchene they absolutely won’t go high enough for Panarin. So enter Ryan Dzingel. As stated above the Jackets can’t realistically sign all of their free agents. If they decide to try and keep Duchene/Panarin that almost certainly spells the end for Dzingel. Dzingel doesn’t have the eye-popping stats but he has proved to be at least a 40-50 point getter and that’s almost entirely with a terrible Ottawa squad. Give him the likes of Getzlaf or Henrique who are masters of facilitating and those point totals could go up even more. He would be the cheaper option no doubt probably commanding in the 3-3.5 million range which the Ducks should be more than comfortable with. But they may have to go a little over as once again there should be no shortage of teams trying to go for the players Columbus has to jettison.

Dzingel about fits the mold the Ducks want as a winger. He is 6 foot and plays a big game while also having speed and stick handling ability the Ducks and more than likely new head coach Dallas Eakins will want. Also wouldn’t hurt the Ducks to bring in a bigger winger as their current stable of wingers is extremely talented but not the biggest. If the Ducks do decide to keep the likes of Jakob Silfverberg, Daniel Sprong, Ondrej Kase, Troy Terry, and Max Comtois playing big minutes they are all extremely skilled but not the biggest. Adding Dzingel with Max Jones and Corey Perry will allow the Ducks to balance lines with a bigger winger and a smaller winger on the opposite side.

The game is moving to a more speed and skill game but physicality is still part of the equation and you don’t want to be consistently getting knocked off the puck. Dzingel will help in that regard.