The Boston Bruins are back home following a four-game road trip. What seemed as an infamous road trip ended up on a high note as the Bruins took down the Florida Panthers. In their next game, the Bruins will host the Los Angeles Kings and Tyler Toffoli.
Undoubtedly, Tyler Toffoli is one of the targets of the Boston Bruins. Last weekend, we saw the New Jersey Devils playing in Colorado and Arizona, holding Taylor Hall back in the press box for precautionary reasons. There were some jokes about Hall suddenly coming out of the tunnel in the Avalanche/Coyotes jersey.
Hall eventually made his way to Arizona. Will we see something similar when Tyler Toffoli and the Kings travel to Boston to play the Bruins?
What can the Bruins trade to the Kings for Tyler Toffoli?
It was reported that the Kings would demand at least a second-round draft pick, maybe a prospect included in the package headed to Los Angeles. The Kings have turned their focus on drafting defensemen and centers, but they would assuredly welcome a winger help. Potentially, Peter Cehlarik would come handy in the trade talks with the Kings.
A second-round draft pick is affordable for the Bruins, but they have to make sure that the Kings would retain 50% of Toffoli’s salary. His salary-cap hit is $4.6 million until the end of this season.
Anyway, Toffoli, the natural right-winger who would look great in a Bruins uniform. He will have a chance to skate on the TD Garden ice still in the Kings jersey on Tuesday.
Toffoli loves to play at TD Garden; the Bruins fans don’t have to be reminded of his last-second goal to steal overtime back in 2017. Currently, Toffoli comes red-hot to TD Garden, which only increases his trade value.
Overall, nine goals and 11 assists for 20 points in 34 games is a fine output for the 27-year-old winger. Toffoli had a difficult start to the campaign and was a healthy scratch for one game in November.
In his last four starts, Toffoli has combined seven points. On the current road trip for the Kings, Toffoli scored in both games in Pittsburgh on Saturday and Detroit on Sunday. Before that, he had a goal against the Rangers and two-assist effort in a win against the Ducks. The Kings went 3-0-1 in those four games.
Once a 31-goal scorer, Toffoli has lost his scoring touch in his last few seasons. However, last season’s 13 goals seem to be easy-to-pass for the right-winger, as he sits on nine goals this season.
Under the Kings Head coach Todd McLellan, Toffoli averages 15:46 of the ice-time per game, which is his lowest ice-time per game since the 2014-15 season.
It’s no secret that McLellan has frequently demoted Toffoli to the bottom-six duties. Yet, the skater with 491 NHL games under his belt has been able to upgrade his game. His CF% of 54.9 is also very attractive, his best in three seasons. That’s not a surprise given the fact that the Kings are one of the best possession teams in the League.
The Bruins already know what Tyler Toffoli can bring them and how much it would cost to bring him to Boston. On Tuesday, they will have him and the Kings’ representatives right downstairs.