Dreger: Back to back 20 goal scorer “going to be one of the first to go out.”

We are roughly one month away from the National Hockey League's trade deadline and the trade talk around the league has begun to pick up considerably.

When it comes to the Ottawa Senators all of the discussions have surrounded the future of soon to be unrestricted free agents Matt Duchene and Mark Stone and what the lack of a new contract might be for both men as the trade deadline approaches. In both those cases I still believe it is more likely than not that the Ottawa Senators and general manager Pierre Dorion will find a way to get the deals signed, however there is another name on the Senators roster that may not be a Senator for much longer.

TSN National Hockey League insider Darren Dreger was a recent guest on TSN's 1200 radio in Ottawa this week and he touched on a name that he feels could move very fast at the trade deadline. While eveyone has all of their focus on Matt Duchene and Mark Stone, Dreger believes that it is multi time 2 0 goal scorer Ryan Dzingel could be one of the first to go.

"I'm a little bit surprised that there isn't more talk about Ryan Dzingel," Dreger said during his radio hit. "He's a 20-plus goal scorer in back-to-back seasons and players that score aren't easy to find. I think if Ottawa gets to that place where Pierre Dorion says 'Alright, well I want to maybe get ahead of the curve here,' then Ryan Dzingel is probably going to be one of the first to go out. And there will be a market for him. I think there are a number of teams that will explore interest and probably have with Pierre Dorion.

Dzingel is an ideal rental option for a lot of playoff contenders not only because of his production but because of his contract status as well. Through the 48 regular season games that he has played with the Senators thus far Dzingel has 20 goals and 18 assists for a total of 38 points. Those are some solid totals, especially on a relatively bad team, and he brings them to the table with a cap hit of just $1.8 million this season. That's a very manageable hit for even the most cap strapped teams and given that he is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season team's will not have to worry about his cap hit beyond their run to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.