According to the latest NHL trade rumors, the Los Angeles Kings have put pending UFA forward Tyler Toffoli on the trade block.
The Los Angeles Kings have lost four straight games heading into the month of November. They have also allowed at least five goals in four straight games against the St. Louis Blues, Minnesota Wild, Chicago Blackhawks, and Vancouver Canucks. According to the latest NHL trade rumors, the Kings are beginning to shop pending UFA forward Tyler Toffoli.
This report comes from Elliotte Friedman. During a recent radio interview, he said that Toffoli “is definitely available”. Through 12 games this season, he has three goals and two assists. Recently, the team made Toffoli a healthy scratch. This could be the beginning of the end for Toffoli in Los Angeles.
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He has a $4.6 million cap hit and will be a free agent after this season. Toffoli’s cap hit could be a bit prohibitive for some teams, though the Kings could certainly sweeten the pot by retaining part of his salary. That would allow him to have more suitors, which would likely lead to a better return.
One could argue the Kings should try to trade Toffoli sooner rather than later. Right now, he’s one of the best forwards on the trade market.
This likely won’t remain the case, especially once the New Jersey Devils figure out what they’re going to do with Taylor Hall. If he won’t sign an extension with them, they’ll likely trade him.
Right now, the Kings have a bit more leverage. They could get more for Toffoli now, especially if a team like the Colorado Avalanche, who are missing both Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog, are interested.
There’s no reason for LA to rush into trading Toffoli because they could still get a nice haul at the trade deadline. But it certainly wouldn’t hurt them to start seeing who’s interested in him. Especially since it appears Toffoli isn’t a favorite of new head coach Todd McLellan.
Teams that want to add some scoring depth would be wise to check in on Toffoli. He isn’t too far removed from being a 20 goal scorer, though he has struggled in his past two seasons. In his last 94 games, he has just 16 goals. However, the Kings aren’t a good offensive team, so maybe a change in scenery would help him rediscover his scoring touch.