Why Has Tyler Toffoli Played on 7 Teams in the Past 5 Years

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

Think that math is right- LA to Van to MTL to Calgary, back to MTL, back to Calgary, then on to NJ, Winnipeg, and now SJ. So- 7 teams, 9 different stops(!) since 2019-20 season.

A) Just wanted to call attention to the modern day Mike Sillinger- idk about you, but I still tend to think of the dude as a king, and I hadn’t realized just how much he’s moved about.
B) Any particular reason he tends to get moved so much? I figure he’s a solid 2nd line scorer, and those are simply one of the more movable and wanted pieces come deadline time. It’s also not a job that tends to get long-term contracts, either you look like you could play 1st line or you aren’t worth building around for 5+ years, y’know? So now he’s moving outta his prime and maybe realizes cups are tough, so he just took money and stability in SJ? Does he stay there, or challenge Sillinger for the title? Anyone ever hear any bad team-guy stuff or anything?

Edit- ok, he didn’t do mtl and cgy x2, thought that was weird. Hockeyreference has that laid out in a very stupid way, everything else is chronological.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

The ultimate asset management darling.

I don't think it has anything to do with his game or his personality

 

[Tie Domi Esquire]

The salary cap.

 

[hamzarocks]

He didnt go back to MTL and CGY

1. LA Kings --> Drafted team, which was rebuilding so moved him at the TDL

2. VAN for 10ish games --> rental deal in 2019-2020 year where Canucks were buying to make playoffs push. Didn't bring him along with Tanev, Markstrom back in free agency that year.

3. MTL for 1.5 years --> Signed a 4 x 4 year deal, as quite productive for habs and good in their finals run for a low scoring offensive team. Dealt him as they understood 2021 was a miracle run and they needed to tank/rebuild. Got a 1st which turned to Mesar for him.

4. Calgary for 1.5 years --> His best year here in 2022/2023 with 73 pts. Flames missed the playoffs by a pt or 2 despite big expectations for team with kadri and hunerdeau + weegar added. He was moved as team was retool in 2023/2024

5. Devils for 60 games laat year --> Bought on him thinking they would build on their strong 2023 season where they lost in 5 to the Canes in R2. Devils had injuries, bad goaltending, and decline of their stars play and defense which resulted in 10th OA(Silayev) pick season so they were sellers and dealt TT for a 3rd and 2nd to the contending Jets.

6. Jets for 20 games last year --> Were having a very good reg season, were buyers with TT and Monahan brought in. Both were decent but not good enough as Avs made short work of them in R1. They couldnt afford to keep both guys LT and Toffoli was let go.

7. Sharks new contract this summer --> 6M x 4 I think, got paid and is in a no pressure market for 2-3 years where he can play wite elite promising talent and put big numbers

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

Cap squeezes out middling tier players

 

[BKarchitect]

He just kind of hits that sweet spot where he’s a savvy scorer who can pile up some stats if given a big load on a bad team and remain attractive as an attainable asset for a competing team as a depth piece…but his pace of play and lack of 200’ game means he’s not a guy a good team is really going to want to invest in at the long-term “going rate”.

Not surprising at all to see Toffoli and Monahan thrive early on with big top line minutes on poor rosters (sorry, Jackets are frisky but decimated). But they were playoff duds for a reason…in smaller roles in the amplified intensity and pace of the playoffs, they don’t really shine. It was a real hard scratcher for me when the Jets doubled down on that pairing last spring and no surprise when it didn’t work out. That said, they saw what they saw and did the smart thing and walked away in the summer.

 

[67 others]

Think that math is right- LA to Van to MTL to Calgary, back to MTL, back to Calgary, then on to NJ, Winnipeg, and now SJ. So- 7 teams, 9 different stops(!) since 2019-20 season.

A) Just wanted to call attention to the modern day Mike Sillinger- idk about you, but I still tend to think of the dude as a king, and I hadn’t realized just how much he’s moved about.
B) Any particular reason he tends to get moved so much? I figure he’s a solid 2nd line scorer, and those are simply one of the more movable and wanted pieces come deadline time. It’s also not a job that tends to get long-term contracts, either you look like you could play 1st line or you aren’t worth building around for 5+ years, y’know? So now he’s moving outta his prime and maybe realizes cups are tough, so he just took money and stability in SJ? Does he stay there, or challenge Sillinger for the title? Anyone ever hear any bad team-guy stuff or anything?

The problem is he was on a reasonable 4 year contract.

The kings started sucking so he went to Vancouver, who saw him as a rental and had no intent on keeping him. Then signed to the Habs. Who were also rebuilding but then decided to go deeper into rebuild, and sent him along to the flames. Flames were good 1 year, then sucked and sutter was canned and they started rebuilding too. He went to a contender NJ devils, who had a down year and traded him to the jets as a rental.

Being on a cheap easy to move contract when you are a solid player means you will get moved if the team is not competing for the cup

 

[NyQuil]

He's like a rich man's Mike Hoffman. Someone is always looking for scoring.

He played for 5 teams in 7 years.

 

[KingsFan7824]

He's good enough at scoring that he's going to stick around, but he's not good enough to where a younger and cheaper legit option isn't better. He's just a dude, not the guy.

 

[HighAndTight]

Modern day Mike Sillinger? Just no.

 

[DEVILS130]

Not gonna lie I have zero recollection of him playing in Vancouver

 

[Halakitlikethat]

The contract he signed with the Habs had no trade protection which definitely factored in

 

[CanadienShark]

He's a really good player and teams want him.

 

[the valiant effort]

When he hits the dog days of winter wall he skates in cement.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

La was starting to suck, so they had to sell players off and since he was a UFA, he went.

Nucks had dim Jim, so he paid the price to acquire him, but didn't want to get back to Toffoli to sign him because he's dim Jim. Toffoli wanted to stay.

Habs traded him because they sucked and needed to shed contracts.

Calgary traded him because he was coming up on ufa status and they seemed to be in limbo about competing, so might have been a retool move.

Devils had a down season and dealt him to recoup some assets.

Winnipeg I guess didn't see the fit, or Toffoli wanted to test the market.

Got a a nice contract in an area he spent a lot of his career. Gets to play with an up and coming team, or at least some nice, top end players, gets paid well and a nice location.

 

[Stive Morgan]

Basically the modern day Lee Stempniak/Mike Camamlleri/Ray Whitney/etc.

Lots of teams like veteran depth scorers, especially if they're well-liked in the locker room.

 

[Big Daddy Cane]

He's a victim of the peak of the pandemic flat cap. He got squeezed, making his contract attractive to other teams. His trade returns were legit; there was demand for what he brought to the table.

Just thinking about it, Taylor Hall got brutalized. 1 season removed from a Hart Trophy and he did the punt in 2020. Then $6 mil x 4. That's an average of $6.4 mil over 5 years. Ouch.

 

[JianYang]

Think that math is right- LA to Van to MTL to Calgary, back to MTL, back to Calgary, then on to NJ, Winnipeg, and now SJ. So- 7 teams, 9 different stops(!) since 2019-20 season.

A) Just wanted to call attention to the modern day Mike Sillinger- idk about you, but I still tend to think of the dude as a king, and I hadn’t realized just how much he’s moved about.
B) Any particular reason he tends to get moved so much? I figure he’s a solid 2nd line scorer, and those are simply one of the more movable and wanted pieces come deadline time. It’s also not a job that tends to get long-term contracts, either you look like you could play 1st line or you aren’t worth building around for 5+ years, y’know? So now he’s moving outta his prime and maybe realizes cups are tough, so he just took money and stability in SJ? Does he stay there, or challenge Sillinger for the title? Anyone ever hear any bad team-guy stuff or anything?

I don't recall toffoli having 2 stints with Montreal. Are you sure on that one?

Anyways, his movement has been highly circumstantial. He came to vancouver, his contract expired, and then he moved on to montreal where he got a long term deal.

I think they were generally happy with him in Montreal but then Price and Weber effectively retired in the same offseason, and Montreal had to start rebuilding.

Calgary also went into an unexpected rebuild, and he was just a rental in winnipeg. I'm not sure what happened in New Jersey.

Now he's got a new long term deal in San Jose. It's just the way the cookie has crumbled for him in the nhl since leaving LA, but under different circumstances, he wouldn't have moved nearly as much in his career.

 

[BLNY]

The ultimate asset management darling.

I don't think it has anything to do with his game or his personality

By all accounts, he was a fabulous teammate in Montreal. If things didn't go the way they did after the cup run, I think he'd still be there.

 

[Bourne Endeavor]

Not gonna lie I have zero recollection of him playing in Vancouver

He barely played for us given Covid and all. The irony is he liked the team so much he openly admitted to waiting four days but still didn't hear from them because Dim Jim was obsessed with OE. the moron that he was.

 

[tarheelhockey]

He’s right in that sweet spot of being desirable but also expendable.

 

[D Wakaluk]

He’s right in that sweet spot of being desirable but also expendable.

This.

Also he's got a great catchy name. Looks good on any jersey

 

[Breakers]

Benning prioritized Jake Virtanen over him.

LOL

 

[hotcabbagesoup]

I think he's always had his eye on California due to his start as a King. His wife is from Monterey CA (coastal surf and golf town in northern California) so San Jose is the closest logical choice. Maybe he figured the warmth will not make his skates feel like cement in winter, because we don't have true winter here.

PS I chuckle at some of you mentioning that Toffoli signed here to play with "elite and promising talent" and "nice, top-end" players. LOLOLOLOL we have neither of those come on now.

 

[MXD]

3. MTL for 1.5 years --> Signed a 4 x 4 year deal, as quite productive for habs and good in their finals run for a low scoring offensive team. Dealt him as they understood 2021 was a miracle run and they needed to tank/rebuild. Got a 1st which turned to Mesar for him.

Totally secondary point, but that trade also brought Emil Heineman, who made the Habs roster this season and looks like a guy who will carve out a decent career on bottom 6es.