Written By Neil Villapiano
The New Jersey Devils have been very busy so far this offseason. They certainly continued to be, given that on Tuesday night, they acquired forward Tyler Toffoli from the Calgary Flames. For Toffoli, the Devils sent Yegor Sharangovich and a 2023 third-round pick. The pick (80th overall) came from the Damon Severson sign-and-trade earlier in June.
Toffoli was one of the handful of players that made it clear that he wanted out of Calgary prior to the start of next season. The Flames granted his request and now the 31 year old scorer begins his new chapter in his hockey career in the Garden State. Toffoli is coming off a career year in which he put up 34 goals while adding 73 points. The biggest asset that he brings is his finishing ability.
The Ontario native has quite the resume in his 11 seasons as a pro. He has 227 career goals and 239 career assists for grand total of 466 points. He was a part of the 2014 Los Angeles Kings Stanley Cup winning team. In that postseason, he had 7 goals and 14 points in 26 games played. He also was a big part of the 2021 Montreal Canadiens team that went all the way to the Stanley Cup Final before being ousted by the Tampa Bay Lightning. He put in five goals and 14 points during that run.
Toffoli has a wealth of playoff experience. He has been in the postseason in seven of his eleven seasons in the NHL. The now former Flame has 18 goals and 44 points in 88 career games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald has made it very well known that he is looking every day to make his team better in all phases and he certainly has done that. Toffoli is a good power play scorer with success on the penalty kill as well. He is a solid two-way forward that can make an impact anywhere on the ice. While speed isn't his strong suit, he provides the faster guys on the roster (Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, Nico Hischier, Timo Meier, Dawson Mercer) a guy who can put the puck in the back of the net at a consistent rate.
For Yegor Sharangovich, it will be an opportunity for him to continue develop and grow on a Top-6 role in Calgary. He had a tough season last year. The winger finished with only 30 points in the regular season. That's 16 fewer points than he had in 2021-22. He was also a healthy scratch numerous times during the playoffs as well. Despite that, Sharangovich is only 25 years of age and has been a solid penalty killer with a nasty wrist shot. When he is on his game, he can be a 20-25 goal scorer. He also does provide speed that the Flames have been lacking.
We know that Toffoli will be a New Jersey Devil this season. The question now is will Toffoli be a one-year rental or a long-term guy? When he spoke to the media on Tuesday night, the man nicknamed, "Cupcake", made his feelings clear.
“I haven’t really had that discussion yet. That was obviously one of the reasons behind leaving Calgary. We’ll see how things kind of move forward here. Obviously, there are a lot of moving parts today and tomorrow. I’m assuming I’ll be on the phone a whole lot. I plan on talking to everybody and seeing if we can move forward here. It is something that’s on the wish list, for sure.”
Toffoli has 1 year left on his deal at a $4.25 million cap hit. There is no rush at all to get a deal done and I'm sure Tom Fitzgerald will allow #73 to get to know the team, the area and whether or not it's a fit for him long term.
All in all, the Devils wanted to add more scoring and they got just that. The addition of Toffoli, along with the other guys mentioned before, makes the Devils Top 6 one of the best in the NHL going into the 2023-24 season.
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Nicely written. I learned a lot and I'm already excited for next season!