Kings target familiar face on trade market

After spending the first eight seasons of his career in Los Angeles, forward Tyler Toffoli is now linked back to the Kings. According to David Pagnotta of the Fourth Period, Kings general manager Rob Blake is reportedly interested in a reunion with Toffoli, turning to the familiar face on the trade market ahead of the March 8 deadline.

Blake has been scouring the trade market ever since one of his top forwards, Adrian Kempe, went down with an injury and undergoing an MRI on Wednesday to properly assess the extent of his injury. Darren Dreger reported last night on Insider Trading on TSN that the status of Kempe will be directly linked to the Kings’ trade plan.

“Now the Kings don’t have any cap space and with those players coming back before the end of the regular season, the only way Blake could get active prior to the trade deadline is if Kempe is long term so they’ll know more on Wednesday.”

Toffoli could fill that void and returned to Los Angeles, especially with his name out there on the trade block. Not only if Pagnotta reporting a potential move involving the New Jersey Devils’ forward, but Dreger also noted how Toffoli could be on the move with less than 10 days to the deadline.

“They’d prefer to extend Tyler Toffoli , they have already engaged, at least to some degree, in extension talks with the agent Pat Brisson. Why wouldn’t you? I mean, this guy has 25 goals, you can see he’s a part of their future. The predicament is they’re a non-playoff team right now. So I believe that the New Jersey Devils are going to take the next three games out west to deeply analyze their team and as you get closer to the trade deadline, if they feel that they’re not playoff worthy, then perhaps they explore some of the interests that they’re getting in Toffoli as a free agent.”

Toffoli is playing the final year of a four-year, $17 million contract and could become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. His deal does not include any no-trade protection.

New Jersey keeps fighting for a spot in the postseason, and along with the Kings dealing with serious injuries up front, the timing might be just right to get a deal done between LA and Jersey with Toffoli returning to California. After all, he spent close to eight full seasons with the Kings from 2012-13 through part of the 2019-20 season before being traded to the Vancouver Canucks. He won the Stanley Cup with Los Angeles in 2014.

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