NHL rumors: Is Tyler Toffoli truly a fit for the Bruins?
By Kyle Pereira
The Boston Bruins have been linked to Tyler Toffoli, according to the latest NHL rumors. But would he really help the Bruins?
According to the latest NHL rumors, the Boston Bruins are interested in Los Angeles Kings forward Tyler Toffoli. This brings up some questions. First, what does Toffoli bring to the table? Secondly, what would he give to the Bruins? Finally, what would it take to acquire him?
At 27 years old, Toffoli is right in the midst of his prime years. While his recent production does not reflect that fact, it requires a deeper dive, as goals and assists just scratch the surface of what he brings to the ice. Toffoli has scored at least 20 goals and 45 points in three seasons. His career-high in goals came in 2016 when he scored 31.
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He has averaged 2.6 shots per game in his career. When looking at the Bruins, as many have already written about to this point, secondary scoring is an issue. For Toffoli, goal-scoring isn’t an issue and he can immediately help them out in that area.
Furthermore, Toffoli is a right wing, which is a position of need for the Bruins. They have shuffled their second line several times. Jake DeBrusk and David Krejci are the mainstays. They’ve played with the likes of Karson Kuhlman, Danton Heinen, and Charlie Coyle. None of those players have had much success with DeBrusk and Krejci yet.
Toffoli also brings a lot of experience to the table. He has postseason experience with the Kings. Bringing in a guy like him and adding him to the likes of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and Zdeno Chara would make the Bruins one of the most experienced teams in the league.
But that is not all. Toffoli possesses some eye-popping underlying stats. Keep in mind, these stats are all from last season, so this does not show his success from this season. One major part of the game of hockey is the transitional aspect of it all – moving from the defensive zone to the neutral zone (exits) and then from the neutral zone to the offensive zone (entries).
Having a strong transitional player leads to further success at both ends of the ice. To display that, CJ Turtoro created a visual using stats gathered by Corey Sznajder, to display entries and exits per 60 minutes.
"View post on imgur.com"
As seen above, among Kings and Bruins forwards, Toffoli ranks eighth when entering the offensive zone. He plays a very simple game, which fits the hard-nosed style of DeBrusk well, as Toffoli tends to dump the puck in deep, rather than looking for a teammate to pass to or to skate it in himself. That style leads him to make very few mistakes.
"View post on imgur.com"
As for exiting, better known as breaking out, Toffoli ranks fourth among all players on the Kings and Bruins rosters. He yet again plays smart and simple hockey, as he prefers to dump or clear the puck out of the zone rather than cleanly carrying or passing the puck to a teammate for a clear. Toffoli’s work in transition would make him a perfect fit.
It also paints a picture of what a deal may look like. The Kings know that Toffoli brings a fairly decent amount of value and the Bruins are desperately looking for a player like him, which could lead to a fairly high asking price.
Knowing the Kings are looking towards a rebuild, they are going to be looking for a mid-round draft pick and a decent prospect in return. Lucky for the Bruins, they have plenty of prospects, making them expendable, to a degree.
A deal for Toffoli could look a little something like this for Boston fans. The Bruins receive Toffoli and a 2020 fifth-round pick in exchange for defenseman Jakub Zboril and a 2020 third-round pick. The Bruins have a surplus of defensemen, and they are not playing guys like Zboril and Urho Vaakanainen when they arguably should be in the NHL.
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Meanwhile, the Kings don’t exactly have a lot of strong NHL defensemen and could benefit from the addition of Zboril. So yes, it is a great fit for both teams, if they do decide to pull the trigger on a deal.