With the Kings struggling last season, winger Tyler Toffoli’s name started to come up in trade speculation as the trade deadline approached. As he was struggling offensively and had another year left on his contract, GM Rob Blake ultimately decided against selling low and brought him back for the final season of his deal.
Things haven’t gone much better in 2019-20. While his offensive numbers are a bit better compared to last year’s pace, Toffoli was recently made a healthy scratch as new head coach Todd McLellan looks to light a fire under a team that has just five wins in 14 games to start the season and has them battling to stay out of the Western Conference basement as a result.
Not surprisingly, Toffoli’s name has once again resurfaced in trade speculation. Speaking with Sportsnet’s Luke Fox, the 27-year-old seems relatively unfazed about potentially being on the move in the coming months:
I mean, it’s just the way it is. It comes with not playing well and not winning games, so whatever happens, happens.
With Los Angeles clearly heading towards a rebuilding phase, they’re going to want to be clearing out some veterans and stockpiling picks and young players. However, the majority of their veterans are on long-term deals which are difficult to move in general but even trickier to do so in-season. That makes Toffoli’s expiring deal, one that carries a $4.6MM cap hit, a much more palatable target.
With three seasons of 20-plus goals under his belt over the past five years, there should be a fair bit of interest in Toffoli. While his recent dip in production will certainly affect his trade value, it still seems more likely than not that it will be a matter of when, not if, Toffoli is dealt between now and the February 24th trade deadline.