One of the names often included in trade talks is Tyler Toffoli of the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings have already made a bit of a splash on the trade market when they sent Jack Campbell and Kyle Clifford to the Maple Leafs on Wednesday night. Could Toffoli be next?
If head coach of the Kings, Todd McLellan has any input, Toffoli will be staying put. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman writes in his lastest 31 Thoughts article that McLellan lobbied for Toffoli to be re-signed with the Kings and not traded before the Feb 24 deadline. It appears those requests have fallen on def ears.
The Kings are still expected to move Toffoli before the deadline and there are a handful of teams interested. Among them, Boston Bruins (their fall-back plan to Chris Kreider) and Calgary Flames are the favorites.
A new team has emerged in the Toffoli sweepstakes but speculation is there’d need to be some work done to actually see the Philadelphia Flyers as viable option. Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia looked at the optics of the Flyers landing Toffoli and noted that the organization would have difficulty taking on his $4.6 million salary-cap hit.
The Flames, on the other hand, have plenty of cap room and the Bruins have some after waiving David Backes.
Expect the Kings to be sellers and as much as the demand from the coach might exist to keep Toffoli, the return is probably too high for the Kings to pass up moving him and acquiring some valuable assets for a rebuild.
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