The Calgary Flames are acquiring Tyler Toffoli from the Montreal Canadiens, TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger reports.
Dreger and TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun report the Canadiens will receiver forward Tyler Pitlick, prospect Emil Heineman, a first-round pick and a 2024 fifth-round pick in return for Toffoli.
The first-round pick involved in the deal is top 10 protected in 2022. If the pick falls within the top 10, then Montreal will receive a 2023 first-rounder instead along with an added fourth-round pick from the Flames.
Toffoli is signed through the 2023-24 season at a cap hit of $4.25 million, he has put up 26 points in 37 games with the Montreal Canadiens this season who currently sit dead-last in the NHL standings.
The 29-year-old right winger scored 28 goals and 44 points in 52 games last season, adding five goals and 14 points in 22 games as the Canadiens reached the Stanley Cup Final.
A second-round pick of the Los Angeles Kings in 2010, Toffoli has 182 goals and 370 points in 614 career games with the Canadiens, Vancouver Canucks, and Kings.
The trade comes just one week after the Canadiens fired head coach Dominique Ducharme, replacing him with Martin St. Louis behind the bench. Montreal has gone 0-3 since the coaching change and remains last in the NHL with 23 points.
It appears the flames are going all-out this season to try to win the Stanley Cup, sacrificing future picks in return for a notable playoff performer in Toffoli.
In the 2020-21 NHL playoffs, Toffoli had 14 points (5 Goals, 9 Assists) in 22 games with the Canadiens who fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup final.
Meanwhile, the Calgary Flames have now won six games in-a-row and sit second in the tight Pacific division with a respectable 26-13-6 record.
The NHL trade deadline is on March 21, 2022. We will likely be seeing many more blockbuster trades like this in the next month.
So who do you think won this blockbuster trade? The Montreal Canadiens or the Calgary Flames?
