Tyler Toffoli was traded to the Calgary Flames by the Montreal Canadiens on Monday for forward Tyler Pitlick, forward prospect Emil Heineman, a first-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, and a fifth-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.
If the first-round pick is in the top 10, the Flames have the option of sending the Canadiens their first-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft and a fourth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft instead.
"We're excited to bring in Tyler," Calgary general manager Brad Treliving said. "It's a Stanley Cup winner. To me, he's a top-six forward in this league. He's a proven scorer in this league. He can touch every part of the game -- 5-on-5, power play, penalty kill -- and with the pedigree that he has, I think he's going to be a great addition to our team, so it's a good day today."
Toffoli is reunited with Flames coach Darryl Sutter, who coached the 29-year-old forward for five seasons with the Los Angeles Kings from 2013-17, including winning the Stanley Cup in 2014. He will debut when Calgary plays the Columbus Blue Jackets at Scotiabank Saddledome on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET; SNW, BSOH, ESPN+, NHL LIVE).
"Obviously, they're a great hockey team and they're playing really good hockey right now," Toffoli said. "I'm excited to join the team. I know a lot of the guys on the team, so it's not going to be too big of an adjustment in that sense. It's just going to be go in and start playing hockey.
"They're all buying into Darryl's style of hockey. I talked to him very briefly, and then basically said he'll see me tomorrow morning and 10 o'clock or whatever it is and go through everything, essentially just kind of get a refresher of the type of hockey that he wants to play. Like I said, what he's preaching, everybody's buying in right now."
Toffoli has scored 26 points (nine goals, 17 assists) in 37 games this season, his second with the Canadiens after signing a four-year, $17 million contract ($4.25 million average annual value) on Oct. 12, 2020. He missed 11 games because of hand surgery.
"I think everybody's fired up," Flames goalie Jacob Markstrom said. "Everybody knows what kind of player he is. He's a goal-scorer everywhere he goes, and I'm happy because he usually always scores on me, and he's been doing it his whole career. I feel he's going to fit right in.
"He kills plays. He scores shorthanded goals. People look at it that way, but he blocks shots and he's in the right position. The 5-on-5 game too, he takes his defensive responsibilities and then he goes on the attack and try to create offense. As a goalie I always like having him on the ice, because I know he's going to do the right thing and help out the defense first and let the offense come later."
Calgary (26-13-6), which has won six consecutive games, is second in the Pacific Division, one point behind the Vegas Golden Knights.
"We've got a long ways to go yet, but you do take your cues from the team," Treveling said. "The players have done their job. It was time for me to do mine, and part of that is giving them some help. I think if you ask any player, they like their team, and when you can give them some help, I think that's well received. But certainly the way they've been playing, and the way we've been playing, I felt it was time to give them some help."
Montreal (8-33-7), which is last in the NHL, is 0-8-2 in its past 10 games, 1-12-4 since Dec. 28, and 0-3-0 since Martin St. Louis replaced Dominique Ducharme as coach on Feb. 9. Last season, the Canadiens made the Stanley Cup Final, losing in five games to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Montreal general manager Kent Hughes said shortly after he was hired on Jan. 19 that changes were coming.
"We have challenges. There's no question," Hughes said Jan 21. "The team's not where we had hoped it would be, or the Canadiens had hoped it would be, at this point in time. My opinion is, some of that is circumstance, but there's no question that there need to be changes."
Toffoli has scored 370 points (182 goals, 188 assists) in 614 regular-season games for the Kings, Vancouver Canucks and Canadiens. He has also scored 39 points (16 goals, 23 assists) in 76 Stanley Cup Playoff games, including 14 (five goals, nine assists) in 22 games for Montreal last season.
"We tried to get out in front of it for a lot of reasons, most notably, when you look back at deadlines, there's a transition going to a new place," Treliving said. "And so giving us, Tyler specifically, more time to adjust and integrate into our group, I think, is important, but it makes it more seamless when you know the coach and the coach knows you. There's not going to be a getting-to-know-you phase. It's going to be "let's get going" right away. So certainly Darryl's knowledge of the player was a factor."
Pitlick, a 30-year-old forward, has scored 86 points (47 goals, 39 assists) in 311 games for the Edmonton Oilers, Dallas Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, Arizona Coyotes and Flames.
Heineman was selected by the Florida Panthers in the second round (No. 43) of the 2020 NHL Draft before being traded to Calgary for forward Sam Bennett on April 12. The 20-year-old forward has scored 16 points (11 goals, five assists) in 36 games in his third season for Leksands of the Swedish Hockey League, the top professional hockey league in Sweden.
NHL.com columnists Nick Cotsonika and Dave Stubbs contributed to this report
