Fantasy Take: Leafs Deal Ritchie to Arizona
Ian Gooding
2022-02-20
The Toronto Maple Leafs have traded Nick Ritchie and a conditional second-round pick to Arizona for Ryan Dzingel and Ilya Lyubushkin.
Ritchie, who was signed to a two-year contract with a $2.5 million cap hit this past offseason, was demoted to the AHL in early February. He had scored just two goals in 33 games as a Leaf, even though he was given significant minutes with Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews, and John Tavares early in the season.
Ritchie brings scoring upside and physical play to the Coyotes, where he should have no problem securing a roster spot and could even play in the top 6, even if he isn't presented with the kind of scoring opportunity that he first received with the Leafs. He is also on the verge of playing 400 games, but he's already on his fourth NHL team. For all we know, this could be his last real NHL opportunity. At least he won't have nearly as much competition for a roster spot this time.
Dzingel has scored 20 goals twice in his career, although like Ritchie, he has struggled to score this season (7 PTS in 26 GP). There's a small chance he could make his way into the top 6 if he moves to the wing, although he seems more likely to fill a bottom-6 role away from the top scorers. With a lower cap hit ($1.1 million) on a one-year deal, he won't come with the expectations that Ritchie had.
Lyubushkin provides virtually no scoring, but he is expected to provide a physical defensive presence on the right side of the Leafs blueline. Two players coming in and only one going out means that the Leafs will need to make another roster move, and it could be on defense. Timothy Liljegren has already been sent down to the AHL, so one of Travis Dermott or Justin Holl could be moved or sent to the AHL to make room for Lyubushkin. Very little in the way of fantasy implications, but there are a million different opinions among Leafs Nation as to what should happen.
Fantasy players this helps:
Ritchie
Fantasy players this hurts, in order:
Dermott
Holl
Liljegren
Related Posts
Starting Goalies
Top Skater Views
T.B
DET
SEA
CGYTop Goalie Profile Views
N.J
WPG
EDM
LINE COMBOS
| Frequency |
 MTL Players
| |
|---|---|---|
| 22.0 | JURAJ SLAFKOVSKY ALEX NEWHOOK COLE CAUFIELD | |
| 19.6 | ALEXANDRE TEXIER PHILLIP DANAULT ZACHARY BOLDUC | |
| 11.2 | CHRIS KREIDER OLIVER KAPANEN JOSH ANDERSON | |
DobberHockey Podcasts
Keeping Karlsson: Short Shifts – Hellebuyck’s Debut, Larkin Fall Out, and Much More
Elan covers all the big news since last Sunday’s mega-show including Hellbuyck’s first game, Larkin’s absence and much more in this week’s episode of Short Shifts.
Keeping Karlsson: Down Across the Helle-ware
On this episode of the Keeping Karlsson Fantasy Hockey Podcast, Elan and Brian dissect the implications of the Connor Hellebuyck trade, injury returns in Carolina and Washington, hot streaks in Philadelphia and Seattle, crease contenders in Calgary and San Jose, a must-add in Tampa Bay and a sell-high in Colorado for your fantasy hockey league.
Fantasy Hockey Life: Ep 506 Prospects with Plenty to Prove II
Victor and Jesse return to talk about more fantasy hockey prospects in critical seasons. Covered are David Reinbacher, Cayden Lindstrom, Dalibor Dvorsky, Bradly Nadeau, Ilya Protas, Charlie Stramel, Otto Stenberg, Emil Hemming, Trey Augustine, Sebastian Cossa, Jacob Fowler, Easton Cowan, Matthew Wood, Gabe Perreault, and Victor Eklund. Thanks to Mason Black @NHLRankKing for his polls. […]
Keeping Karlsson: Matchup Maximizer 2026/27 Week 5
Jeremy takes a look at the schedule for the upcoming weeks of NHL action and recommends players with good schedules that you should consider streaming in to win your head to head matchups.
Keeping Karlsson: Short Shifts – Injuries, Outjuries, and Duds
Elan talks about all the latest injuries, outjuries, big performances and duds over a tight 20 minutes in this week’s episode of Short Shifts.