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Follow the latest news on the NHL trade deadline at Athletic’s live blog.
The Winnipeg Jets get: Forward Tyler Toffoli
The New Jersey Devils get: 2025 second-round pick, 2024 third-round pick (also keeps 50 percent of Toffoli’s salary)
Eric Duhatschek: This is the third time in his career that Toffoli has been traded to a Canadian NHL team before the deadline. Everyone who watches hockey above the 49th parallel is painfully reminded of this fact every spring: no Canadian team has won the Stanley Cup since 1993.
Is the third time the charm?
The Jets hope so. After adding Sean Monahan from the Montreal Canadiens earlier this season, the Jets made another big turn on Friday morning, adding Toffoli from New Jersey at a very attractive price: a third-round pick in 2024 and one of second round in 2025. That’s cheap for a player who is a poor man’s Jake Guentzel. Toffoli was the second available rental winger on the board, someone who moved to the top spot after Guentzel was traded to Carolina the day before. Guentzel didn’t generate a king’s ransom for Pittsburgh and Toffoli didn’t for New Jersey. He suggests that the 2024 deadline will be a buyer’s market for a change.
But let’s move on to playing on the ice. The Jets wanted Toffoli primarily because he brings three things to the mix.
One, he’s a finisher. In Winnipeg, he will complement Kyle Connor and Nikolaj Ehlers and round out the front six nicely. Second, he is a 200-foot player. Playing responsible defense is a must for Jets coach Rick Bowness. Toffoli isn’t the fastest player (he never really was), but he has good hockey sense and instincts and is often in the right place at the right time in the defensive zone. Three – and this is why history matters – the previous two times Toffoli has moved at the deadline, he has been a perfect fit.
Failures at trade deadlines often have less to do with the talent of an incoming player and more to do with how he adapts in a short period of time to a new team, playing a new system, in a new city.
So think about when Toffoli went to Vancouver from Los Angeles at the 2020 deadline, he produced 10 points in 10 regular-season games and seven more in the playoffs.
Two years later, in February 2022, Toffoli was traded to Calgary from Montreal. The Flames felt like they were a Cup contender that season, and Toffoli proved to be a useful complementary piece: he scored 23 points in 37 regular-season games. Remember, that was the year Calgary featured a top line of Elias Lindholm, Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau, so Toffoli was always going to get the offensive scraps. But he became an important complementary piece. Last year, after Gaudreau and Tkachuk jumped ship, in a larger role, Toffoli had the best season of his life: 34 goals and 73 points. The Flames traded him to New Jersey in the summer and the Devils were ready to move on from Toffoli not because they didn’t like what he brought but because they couldn’t come to an agreement on a contract extension, which was also the reason Calgary changed it last summer.
Like many teams destined to miss the playoffs, the Devils weren’t interested in losing an asset for nothing. Toffoli’s numbers, prorated, have a chance of being the second-best season of his NHL career. And with 26 goals, a strong finish could even see him surpass his career high of 34. Like many goal scorers, Toffoli can have streaks.
Toffoli had two long playoff runs in his career: in 2014 with the Los Angeles Kings, where they won the Stanley Cup, and in 2021, with the Canadiens, when they reached the finals (playing in the all-Canadian division), but lost to Tampa Bay. In total, he has 44 points in 88 playoff games.
He has good hands, an infectious personality and a playoff pedigree. The fit is always important in a deal at the trade deadline, but the fit in Winnipeg should be easy. In short, he is a very good addition for the Jets. And the price? More than fair. New Jersey gave up a player and a third-rounder to get Toffoli from Calgary. They get a third rounder in this trade.
Does a second equal Yegor Sharangovich, who is having an excellent season in Calgary and was the main piece that went to the Flames last summer? Probably not. But the market is what it is and returns, across the board, have been disappointing. So here we will give the Demons the benefit of the doubt.
Jets Grade: TO
Devils grade: c
Shayna Goldman: The race for first place in the Central Division continues to heat up. The Stars found their perfect fit on defense in Chris Tanev, while the Avalanche made a couple of big moves to bolster their chances. The ball was back in the Jets’ court after starting the trade season early with the addition of Monahan.
Winnipeg didn’t have to pay more for one of the best wingers on the market, like Guentzel or Pavel Buchnevich. Someone of Toffoli’s caliber feels good to round out the top six and make the Jets’ front group much deeper.
The Jets have had a great season, but they could use more firepower down the stretch and in the playoffs. Toffoli brings that with his ability to generate a high rate of quality shots and finishing talent. That should boost the team’s offensive creation both at even strength and especially on the power play, where there is a lot of room for improvement. For Toffoli to be at his best, it would be helpful to pair him with a skilled puck-mover; perhaps a dual threat like Nikolaj Ehlers could be the best option.
The Devils are in a tough spot right now because they’re not completely out of the playoff picture. But considering how disappointing this season has been, it makes all the sense in the world to move from the pending unrestricted free agent to regaining assets that will help in the future, possibly in a goalie trade before the deadline or this summer. The return is fine, nothing. also special. This lines up considering what the best winger on the market, Guentzel, brought.
Moving Toffoli doesn’t necessarily mean the Devils are giving up the white flag, because there are other options poised to take on a bigger role in the top six, from the underutilized Timo Meier to Alex Holtz. It simply means that management is being practical and proactive after failing so far this season; Better late than never.
Jets Grade: TO
Devils grade: b
(Photo: Philip G. Pavely / USA Today)