The Montreal Canadiens have made their first significant free-agent acquisition since Karl Alzner, signing RW Tyler Toffoli to a 4 year, $4.25 Million deal.
Marc Bergevin has made a significant offseason addition; not a substitution like Habs fans are more than accustomed to, but a real addition, with the signing of Tyler Toffoli. The contract that has an annual cap hit of $4.25 million represents a slight pay cut on Toffoli’s part, who had been earning $4.6 million for each of the past three seasons.
Toffoli, who was drafted by the LA Kings in the second round of the 2010 draft, has played 525 NHL games, recording 135 goals and 300 points to go along with 150 penalty minutes; those are some pretty round numbers there. Last season, Toffoli played in 68 games, recording 24 goals (2 more than any Habs player registered) and 44 points. He scores through sheer volume of shots, not dissimilar to how Gallagher does. He does not wield a lethal shot, but he gets into dangerous positions and forces the puck into the net.
He was traded from the LA Kings to the Vancouver Canucks last season for a solid prospect in Tyler Madden, Tim Schaller, a 2020 2nd round draft pick which was used to select Swedish centreman Theodor Niederbach as well as a 2022 4th round selection. He scored 6 goals and 10 points in his 10 regular-season games as a Canuck and added two goals and two assists in 7 playoff appearances.
This signing gives the Canadiens some excellent depth at right-wing; Brendan Gallagher, Josh Anderson and Joel Armia were already decent bets to pot a pro-rated 20 goals this upcoming season, and with Toffoli, the Habs could have a 20 or 30-goalscorer at the right side of all four forward lines.
The contract expires in 2024 when Toffoli will be 32 years of age, so the chances of the player seeing significant regression during these four years are rather minimal.