The Ryan Dzingel era has come to end on the Leafs. After arriving (metaphorically) in the Nick Ritchie trade on Saturday, he’s only going as far as San Jose, not all the way to Toronto.
San Jose claims Ryan Dzingel off waivers from Toronto.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) February 21, 2022
The Maple Leafs uncharacteristically announced in advance on Sunday they were going to waive Dzingel at 2 PM, giving teams a lot of time to plan their claims.
San Jose then placed Lane Pederson on waivers today, a player they traded for from Arizona giving up a fourth-round pick. That now seems like a poor decision made just last July.
The Maple Leafs clearly had no intention of making use of Dzingel’s limited talents as anything but insurance and took him in the Ritchie deal because the Coyotes just didn’t want to pay out salary.