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Toffoli enjoys skating with the Sharks – Winnipeg Free Press

Usa Jaun News
By Usa Jaun News
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Toffoli enjoys skating with the Sharks – Winnipeg Free Press

Tyler Toffoli’s time in Winnipeg ended up being short — and not so sweet.

The veteran winger, acquired by the Jets at last year’s trade deadline, represented a big swing from general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff. A lack of sustained production combined with the team’s hasty exit from the playoffs would likely put this transaction in the “miss” category.

“Obviously there was a lot of excitement when I first got here,” Toffoli told the Free Press on Friday as his new team, the San Jose Sharks, prepared to face his most-recent former employer.


Toffoli enjoys skating with the Sharks – Winnipeg Free Press

Erin Hooley / The Associated Press

Entering Friday night’s action, Tyler Toffoli was leading the San Jose Sharks in scoring with four points in four games.

“At the end of the day, a little disappointing.”

Winnipeg sent a third-round pick in the 2024 draft and a second-round pick in the 2025 draft to the New Jersey Devils for Toffoli, a pending unrestricted free agent who was meant to help fortify the top six. The 32-year-old had 11 points (seven goals, four assists) in 18 regular-season games, and two goals in five playoff contests.

The Jets never had any real interest in extending Toffoli, who couldn’t turn down a lucrative four-year, US$24 million contract offer on July 1 from the rebuilding Sharks. While that likely represents a significant overpay, San Jose was looking for some experience to surround promising young talent such as Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith.

Toffoli, who won a Stanley Cup in his rookie season with the Los Angeles Kings and is now playing for his seventh NHL team, knows plenty of patience is likely required with his latest stop.

“A younger team, but a team that’s looking to go in the right direction,” he said. “I think we’ve had some spurts here so far this season where we’ve played some good hockey and had chances to win games. But things haven’t gone the way the way we envisioned.”

Celebrini, the first-overall pick from this summer’s draft, scored in his NHL debut and then registered his first pro assist by setting up Toffoli later that night. Unfortunately, the 18-year-old suffered a hip injury near the end of the game and has been sidelined since.

“He’s going to be a special player,” said Toffoli. “He’s obviously extremely talented. Hopefully he can get healthy here soon and jump back in the lineup and jump back to where he started with the first game. He’s definitely going to help our team and help lead the charge.”

Rookie Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky said Toffoli, who has 263 goals and 262 assists in 816 career games, has been a solid add for his squad.

“He obviously can score goals at this level. He’s done it his whole career,” he said. “He’s been a good influence for our younger players on how to be a pro, prepare, how to practice and how to play the game the right way. We’ve leaned on him quite a bit. Happy to have him on our team.”

Heading into play Friday night, Toffoli was leading the Sharks in scoring with four points (three goals, one assist) through the first four games.

“I don’t think stats are everything,” he said. “Obviously, it’s nice to score and all that, but at the end of the day, if you’re losing hockey games, it’s not that fun to show up to the rink.”

Around the glass

HOFER SHINES: Winnipegger Joel Hofer pitched a 34-save shutout and then made the breakout pass that led to the overtime winning goal from Jake Neighbours on Thursday.

Hofer is known for his puck-handling ability and actually scored a goalie goal in the American Hockey League during the Calder Cup playoffs as a member of the Springfield Thunderbirds in 2022.

Hofer, 24, is sharing the crease with Jordan Binnington and has won his first two starts of the season to go along with a 1.98 goals-against average and .937 save percentage.

The Blues made headlines for the two successful offer sheets they made during the offseason and the early returns have been excellent for defenceman Philip Broberg. Broberg had the primary assist on the Neighbours OT goal to extend his point streak to five games. In doing so, he became the first Blues D-man in franchise history to record at least a point in each of his first five games.

STRONG START FOR KOVACEVIC: Former Jets defence prospect Johnathan Kovacevic looks like he found a great landing spot with the New Jersey Devils.

Kovacevic, who spent the past two seasons with the Montreal Canadiens after he was claimed off waivers from the Jets, is up to one goal and five points in seven games, adding nine blocked shots and 11 hits while averaging 21:35 of ice time per game.

An injury to Brett Pesce opened up some additional playing time on the right side of the depth chart and Kovacevic has taken full advantage.

Kovacevic, 27, was originally chosen by the Jets in the third round (73rd overall) of the 2017 NHL Draft and suited up in four games with the organization during the 2021-22 campaign.

He’s actually in the third year of the contract he signed with the Jets, one that featured a two-way deal in each of the first two seasons and a one-way deal during the final with an NHL salary of US$766,667.

Kovacevic played the 150th NHL game of his career earlier this week.

CROSBY JOINS 1,600 CLUB: Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby became the 10th player in NHL history to hit 1,600 points with an assist against the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday.

Now in his 20th NHL season, Crosby added another assist and scored the overtime winner to get him to 1,602. The next player he’s chasing is former Colorado Avalanche captain Joe Sakic, who had 1,641 in 1,378 games. Former landlord and fellow Penguins great Mario Lemieux is eighth on the all-time points list with 1,723 (in just 915 games).

Speaking of milestones, Penguins centre Evgeni Malkin scored his 500th NHL goal against the Sabres, becoming the 48th player in NHL history to do so.

Both players are a shoo-in to be Hall of Famers and with just visit per regular season by Eastern Conference opponents, so there might not be that many more for this dynamic duo that just joined Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri as duos to score 500 times for a franchise.

Crosby and Malkin will be in Winnipeg on Sunday as the Jets close out this four-game homestand.

STARS LOCK UP OETTINGER: The Dallas Stars took care of another important piece of business on Thursday when they inked goalie Jake Oettinger to an eight-year contract extension.

The US$8.25 million AAV represents the same value as Boston Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman signed earlier this month and New York Islanders puckstopper Ilya Sorokin signed on July 1, 2023.

Oettinger is a homegrown talent, chosen by the Stars in the first round (17th-overall) of the 2017 NHL Draft. He’s approaching his 200th NHL game and has another 47 playoff games on his resume. The 26-year-old joins Roope Hintz, Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindell as core pieces who have been signed to long-term extensions by Stars GM Jim Nill in recent years.

In a lot of ways, the Jets helped reset the goalie market last October when they agreed on an eight-year extension with Connor Hellebuyck worth US$59.5 million (US$8.5 million AAV).

The New York Rangers are looking for a new deal for Igor Shesterkin and it will be interesting to see where that contract lands after he reportedly turned down an eight-year pact that would have paid him US$88 million (US$11 million AAV).

Although he remains on long term injured reserve, Carey Price is still the highest paid goalie in the NHL, with an AAV of US$10.5 million on a deal he signed in 2017, with Sergei Bobrovsky of the Florida Panthers next at US$10 million on the seven-year deal he signed in 2019.