Nick Ritchie was traded by the Toronto Maple Leafs to the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday for Ryan Dzingel and Ilya Lyubushkin.
Arizona also received a conditional pick in the NHL Draft.
"We're always in the thought process of trying to move some assets along as we get closer to the [NHL Trade Deadline on March 21]," Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong said. "This is a deal that popped up for us that we were able to acquire a big (6-foot-3, 236 pounds), strong, tough player that can add in secondary scoring into our lineup.
"So he's an exciting player for us. We tried to acquire him in the summer but weren't able to get it done. And when this popped up, it really, really excited us. Unfortunately, we had to move two key pieces of our team this year, Ilya and then Ryan Dzingel, both quality people that really bought into the rebuild."
Ritchie scored nine points (two goals, seven assists) in 33 games with the Maple Leafs this season.
Dzingel, a forward, scored seven points (four goals, three assists) in 26 games, and Lyubushkin, a defenseman, had nine assists in 46 games with the Coyotes.
Arizona can choose to acquire Toronto's third-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft or its second-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.
Ritchie signed a two-year, $5 million contract with the Maple Leafs as a free agent this offseason (average annual value of $2.5 million).
The 26-year-old has not played in the NHL since Jan. 12. He was placed on waivers and later loaned to Toronto of the American Hockey League off the Maple Leafs taxi squad.
"[Waivers] wasn't news a hockey player wants to be here," he told the Toronto Sun on Jan. 9. "I was disappointed at the time, but I'm still here in Toronto. I'm just trying to get my game in order and be someone who can help this team the second half of the season.
"From a production side, it hasn't been great. It hasn't been all bad. I've shown signs of playing good hockey. It was on me, getting off to a hot start, but it has only been 30 games, there's lot of time to help this team."
Ritchie played for Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe with Sault Ste. Marie of the Ontario Hockey League in 2014-15 and is a native of Orangeville, Ontario. Prior to the season, he was thought to be a replacement for Zach Hyman among Toronto's top six forwards after Hyman signed with the Edmonton Oilers as a free agent.
Selected by the Anaheim Ducks with the No. 10 pick in the 2014 NHL Draft, Ritchie has scored 146 points (61 goals, 85 assists) in 383 regular-season games with the Ducks and Boston Bruins, and nine points (six goals, three assists) in 38 Stanley Cup Playoff games.
He was not given a qualifying offer by the Bruins after they acquired him in a trade with the Ducks on Feb. 24, 2020.
"If Nick can come in and resurrect his career and buy into what our coaching staff, as well as our work ethic and the way that we play, he's going to be a really impact player for us," Armstrong said. "Obviously that's up to the player, they have got to have a buy in, but I think he's excited about coming to play for the Coyotes."
Dzingel, 29, signed a one-year contract with the Coyotes this offseason after playing for the Carolina Hurricanes and Ottawa Senators in 2019-20.
Selected by Ottawa in the seventh round (No. 204) of the 2011 NHL Draft, Dzingel has scored 187 points (86 goals, 101 assists) in 398 regular-season games with the Senators, Hurricanes and Columbus Blue Jackets, and four points (three goals, one assist) in 28 playoff games.
Lyubushikin, 27, was not drafted. He has scored one goal with 18 assists in 180 NHL games.
"Everybody was looking at him in the league that's kind of making a run for it," Armstrong said. "What I what I liked about him is that he brought the same effort every single night and he showed great improvement. His minutes increased this year compared to last year (18:06-15:42). ... He made us a tough team."
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