Tyler Toffoli is on his way to Calgary.
The Montreal Canadiens traded top-line winger Toffoli to the Flames on Monday in exchange for a 2022 first-round draft choice (which is top-10 protected), a 2024 fifth-round pick, forward Tyler Pitlick and prospect Emil Heineman.
There was no salary retained in the trade. Toffoli is in the second season of a four-year, $17 million contract he signed with Montreal as an unrestricted free agent in October 2020.
Toffoli is second in scoring for the last-place Canadiens this season, tallying nine goals and 26 points in 37 games. In the past, Toffoli has been a more effective and consistent scorer, something Calgary was in the market for. Toffoli spent some of his best seasons with the Los Angeles Kings from 2013 to 2020, being coached by now-Flames bench boss Darryl Sutter. The 29-year-old was a key offensive contributor during the Kings' Stanley Cup run in 2014 and has produced multiple 20-plus goal seasons.
Last season, Toffoli's 28 goals and 44 points in the regular season helped power Montreal into the playoffs, where it made an unexpected run to the Cup Final.
The Flames have needed a player like Toffoli to bolster their depth scoring. Calgary has been one of the NHL's stingiest teams defensively but relies too heavily on a handful of players -- including Johnny Gaudreau, Elias Lindholm and Andrew Mangiapane -- to score. Adding Toffoli gives the Flames another weapon, and Sutter's past familiarity with Toffoli over multiple seasons in L.A. should ease the quick transition.
Meanwhile, the Canadiens get a solid fourth-liner in Pitlick and an intriguing prospect. Heineman was a second-round pick in 2020 by the Florida Panthers and ended up in Calgary as part of a trade package with Sam Bennett last season.
