Although the Kings put pen to paper on a new four year, $15MM deal with winger Tanner Pearson yesterday, talks haven’t progressed as significantly with their other prominent pending restricted free agent in winger Tyler Toffoli, reports Jon Rosen of LA Kings Insider. However, he notes that talks on a new contract for him are expected to begin soon.
Toffoli is coming off a bit of a tough year as he missed 19 games due to a leg injury while playing through another leg issue during the season. As a result, his offensive numbers came in considerably lower than the past two years but he still managed to put up 16 goals and 18 assists in 63 games. However, he’s just one year removed from a 31 goal campaign and will be counted on as a go-to scorer for Los Angeles not only for next season but for the foreseeable future as well.
The 25 year old is coming off the second and final year of his bridge deal that carries a cap hit of $3.25MM. However, it’s worth noting that his salary this season was $3.9MM which sets that as his qualifying offer amount if the two sides aren’t able to work out a new deal by the end of June.
While they certainly need to get a deal done, Toffoli’s next contract will only further the cap constraints that new general manager Rob Blake will be facing. The team already has nearly $62.2MM in commitments to 16 players for next season per CapFriendly and the salary cap isn’t expected to go up much from the $73MM it was at in 2016-17. While there is the potential for Marian Gaborik to head for long-term injured reserve next season, that still doesn’t leave a whole lot of wiggle room for Blake to make many changes to their roster for next year as things currently stand.