All of the latest trade chatter around the Boston Bruins seems to center on Chris Kreider; does this mean that Tyler Toffoli has dropped off their radar?
With the Los Angeles Kings clearly sellers at the trade deadline, it’s interesting that they’re not rating a high of a mention as the New York Rangers when it comes to potential trade partners for the Boston Bruins.
In Tyler Toffoli they have a player that absolutely should appeal to the Boston Bruins. He is on pace for a 45-point season despite playing for an outfit that successfully neutered the scoring of Ilya Kovalchuk (interestingly, his scoring touch is back in Montreal now).
The suggestion by Hockey Night in Canada’s Elliotte Friedman is that he’s a fallback option for the Boston Bruins and that any deal with LA is as good as done already.
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If this is indeed true, you might wonder what sort of cost is attached. While trading a defenseman is a different deal, the most recent considerable Kings trade was the deal that took Jake Muzzin to Toronto near trade deadline last year.
That deal carried a cost of a first-round pick and two prospects, one a little more ready for the NHL than the other, but neither standing out as future top-tier players. Muzzin was on a $4 million a year contract with a year to run after that season.
By comparison, Tyler Toffoli’s $4.6 million deal is set to expire this summer meaning he’s a pure rental. As such, you’d imagine that a deal may come a little bit cheaper.
The thinking would be that you have to sacrifice maybe a third round pick with conditions elevating it to a second rounder if we make the Conference Final. That and a prospect in the middling tier, someone like Cameron Hughes springs to mind.
Perhaps the hardest part of the deal would be working out how to balance salary. The Boston Bruins would need LA to take back Brett Ritchie, John Moore or David Backes to eat salary and at that point, it starts costing better and better prospects. The options are there though; there’s a slight defensive over-stock and there’s forwards that could go too.
Question is though, with all the attention on Chris Kreider, will this deal go unfulfilled for the Boston Bruins?
At a glance, it’s a cheaper option and although there’s certain parts of Kreider’s game and obviously his Massachusetts roots to champion, Toffoli brings the experience of having won the Stanley Cup already.
Not only that, there is no fear of any sort of lingering injury with Toffoli and his scoring pace is pretty similar to the New York player, especially factoring how poor the Kings’ team scoring has been this season.
Hiding out on the West Coast, I think, is actually the answer to the Boston Bruins’ second-line right wing woes. Playing in that timezone, Tyler Toffoli has slipped under the radar of most fans and is forgotten, especially when you consider the better value that can be had.