NHL free agency 2019: Carolina Hurricanes sign Ryan Dzingel
The Carolina Hurricanes have added former Ottawa Senators and Columbus Blue Jackets forward Ryan Dzingel to their forward group, signing him to a two-year deal.
The Carolina Hurricanes have had an interesting offseason. They were the target of the first offer sheet in six years, but elected to match the Montreal Canadiens offer sheet to Sebastian Aho. The Canes also traded for James Reimer and brought back Petr Mrazek. Now they’ve addressed their forward depth, signing Ryan Dzingel to a two-year deal.
According to the Hurricanes, the deal is for two years and has a cap hit of $3.375 million annually. As far as salary, Dzingel will be paid $3.25 million in 2019-20 and $3.50 million in 2020-21.
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Last season, he had the most productive season of his NHL career. Dzingel set a career-high with his first 50 point campaign, notching 56 points in 78 games. He spent last season split between the Ottawa Senators and Columbus Blue Jackets.
This was Dzingel’s second consecutive season with at least 40 points. He also set a career high with 26 goals. Dzingel added one goal in nine postseason games with the Blue Jackets.
For the Hurricanes, he should act as a bit of a Swiss Army Knife. Dzingel has a niche – being able to play all over the lineup.
He’s had success on the first line, second line, and third line. Dzingel is able to play all three forward positions, which should be a huge asset for Carolina.
Most likely, he will be on their third line, though he’s capable of playing in the top six. Dzingel will likely be a left wing, as that’s where Carolina’s greatest need is. However, he could get some time at center and he should be taking a few faceoffs.
Dzingel isn’t right-handed, so Carolina will continue to have almost exclusively left-handed forwards, which is a bit interesting. Their only right-handed forward, according to CapFriendly, is Martin Necas, who might not even make the Opening Night roster. However, the Hurricanes are open to bringing back Justin Williams, who would give them another right-handed option.
While it’s not likely Dzingel will put up 50 points again, he’s proven to be a valuable player. He can be useful on the power play, as he put up 11 power play points last season. 39 of his points came at five-on-five, which was 60th among all players last season.
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His 2.09 points per hour at five-on-five ranked 66th among all players. Dzingel’s price probably fell due to his less than stellar postseason. The Hurricanes might have just found a nice bargain.