The Montreal Canadiens have signed center Tyler Toffoli of Scarborough, Ontario from the Vancouver Canucks on Monday according to Rogers Sportsnet. The terms of the deal are four years and $17 million.
The Canadiens become the third National Hockey League team Toffoli has played for. In addition to the Canucks, Toffoli has played eight seasons with the Los Angeles Kings.
Toffoli shared his time last season with the Canucks and Kings. He was reportedly extremely popular among his Canucks teammates. In 68 games last season, Toffoli had 24 goals and 20 assists for 44 points. He was a -1 with 20 penalty minutes, 10 power play points, four game winning goals, 203 shots on goal, four faceoff wins, 16 blocked shots, 48 hits, 35 takeaways and 34 giveaways.
Also while with the Kings this past year, Toffoli delivered his third career hat trick. It came in a 3-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche on February 15 in a unique game where Toffoli scored all three of the Kings goals.
Known for his defensive zone coverage and excellent penalty killing, Toffoli led the NHL with five shorthanded goals during the 2014-15 season. Then in 2015-16, he led the NHL with a +35. Toffoli is also a career +82.
In 2014, Toffoli was also part of the Kings team that won the Stanley Cup. In 26 postseason games that year, Toffoli had seven goals and seven assists for 14 points.
