Breaking: New Jersey Devils Trade Yegor Sharangovich for Tyler Toffoli

The New Jersey Devils had a busy week and it’s only Tuesday, as they made trades, announced the new schedule (alongside the rest of the NHL), and they were reeling from their NHL Awards losses from Monday night. It started with a trade that seemed inevitable, as the Devils sent Reilly Walsh to the Boston Bruins for Shane Bowers. A day later, the Devils announced Mackenzie Blackwood would be going to the San Jose Sharks for a sixth-round pick. That was a win since the Devils were about to cut Blackwood for nothing.

Then, on Tuesday evening, the Devils made the huge move, trading Yegor Sharangovich and a third-round pick for Tyler Toffoli. This was a massive win for Fitzgerald, who found a desperate team in the Calgary Flames and turned an unnecessary asset into a bonafide stud. Sharangovich was a player who couldn’t crack the playoff lineup, but he was getting significant trade buzz ahead of the NHL Draft.

https://twitter.com/NJDevils/status/1673828577039581184

Meanwhile, the Devils are getting a 34-goal scorer (in a Darryl Sutter offense) to add to this studly top-six. Now, Toffoli will be spending most of his time with either Nico Hischier or Jack Hughes after spending most of last season with Elias Lindholm and Dillon Dube. Lindholm is really good, but he doesn’t possess the skill of Hughes or the two-way prowess of Hischier. This is a really good move for Toffoli’s career, who is on the last year of his four-year, $17 million deal.

Toffoli comes to New Jersey with just a $4.25 million cap hit. That’s an incredible price to pay for a player of his skill and talent. That leaves the Devils plenty of room to sign Timo Meier to a new contract. They also only gave up a third-round pick they just recently acquired for sending Damon Severson’s rights to the Columbus Blue Jackets, a pick the Flames originally owned anyway.

This was a no brainer for Tom Fitzgerald. This might give the Devils one of, if not the best top sixes in the Eastern Conference. Adding Toffoli to Jesper Bratt, Timo Meier, and Dawson Mercer means teams can’t take even one shift off with the offensive production from these two lines. They can dominate at any time.

Beyond the 5v5 prowess the Devils now have, Toffoli helps the Devils in their biggest weakness, the power play. Toffoli had 10 power-play goals last season. That would have led the Devils. He also had 15 power-play assists. He would only trail Hughes and Dougie Hamilton in PP points.

This is one of the biggest wins of the Tom Fitzgerald era. He took a depth winger and a third-round pick he basically got for free and turned it into one of the most underrated and underpaid wingers in the league. Toffoli makes the Devils a legit threat to win it all. We said it, and we mean it.