The Vancouver Canucks have grabbed one of the top players on TSN’s Trade Bait board a week before Feb. 24’s trade deadline, acquiring right-winger Tyler Toffoli from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Tim Schaller, Tyler Madden, and a 2020 second-round draft pick.
Toffoli’s Long Tenure in Los Angeles Is Over
The 27-year-old right winger has spent his entire 515-game, eight-year career with the Kings, who drafted him 47th overall in 2010.
Related: 3 Canucks Trade Deadline Targets — Forwards
Toffoli has 18 goals and 16 assists for 34 points in 58 games this season. His hard-working defensive play style, penalty killing prowess, ability to chip in on the scoresheet, and veteran presence should be a big boost to the Canucks’ forward corp; he should get a look alongside Bo Horvat.
The Canucks currently sit in third place in Pacific Division at 32-22-5 and look primed to qualify for the postseason for the first time in five seasons.
Toffoli is on the last year of a three-year contract that carries an average annual value of $4.6 million. The Kings won’t retain any salary because Schaller is in the return package. The Kings will also get a conditional pick if Toffoli re-signs with the Canucks after this season, Pierre LeBrun reported.
Schaller, Madden, Heading the Other Way
The Kings receive Tim Schaller, a left-handed shooting centre who has played 217 career contests. This season, his second with the Canucks, he has recorded five goals and one assist for six points in 51 games.
The pieces more attractive to a team in a rebuilding mode such as the Kings are the young Madden and the pick at June’s upcoming draft in Montreal. Madden, a 20-year-old speedy centre with top-six potential, was selected by the Canucks 68th-overall in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft.
He’s currently in his sophomore season with the NCAA’s Northeastern Huskies and leads the team with 29 goals and 18 assists for 37 points in just 27 games. He is yet another blue-chip prospect heading to a Kings’ organization that already possesses a number of promising youngsters.
The second-round pick is the third 2020 pick the Kings have acquired from other teams; they also possess the Columbus Blue Jackets’ third-rounder and the Calgary Flames’ fourth-rounder.
Declan Schroeder is a 26-year-old communications specialist and freelance journalist in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He holds a diploma in Creative Communications with a major in journalism from Red River College and a bachelors in Rhetoric and Communications from the University of Winnipeg.
Deeply rooted in the city’s hockey culture, the original Jets skipped town when he was two and the 2.0 version came onto the scene when he was 17.
