CALGARY | Apart from the fact that he is separated from his wife Cat and his dog Dodger, Tyler Toffoli has been happily ever after since the trade that made him move to the Flames.
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We would be less. In his new uniform, he has scored five goals in seven games and the team sits atop the Pacific Division with a streak in which they have won 13 of 15 games.
“The adaptation was easy. I knew several of these guys from having faced them for several seasons when I played for the Kings. In addition, Darryl (Sutter) made sure that I felt as good as possible, ”explained Toffoli, on the eve of a first confrontation against his former teammates from the Canadian.
In fact, Sutter has his hands full with the Flames that he can afford to use Toffoli on a third line, along with Milan Lucic and Sean Monahan. On the other hand, Toffoli gets game time on the first massive attack unit.
“The arrival of Tyler allows us to bet on one more complete player. Tyler is not just about goals, he is a player involved in all situations,” Sutter argued.
” Still as good “
Flames head coach, venerable member of the equally venerable Sutter family, Darryl Sutter witnessed Toffoli’s arrival in the NHL. In 2012, he was the pilot of the Kings when the young Ontario started to show up. He was there again, in 2014, when Toffoli was an important member of the Kings’ second conquest in three years.
Eight years later, Sutter maintains that the Toffoli of then has not changed. Rather, he grew up.
“He’s still just as good. He’s just more experienced. He was just a kid when I first directed him. He is more in control of his game and more aware of what is going on around him. »
Moreover, the former player of the Chicago Blackhawks gave reason to Martin St-Louis who had maintained, at the time of the departure of Toffoli, that he occupied the role of captain of the Canadian without however carrying the letter.
“It goes hand in hand with winning championships and being surrounded by good captains. In the group that won in Los Angeles, there must have been at least seven or eight players who could have captained another team,” said Sutter, himself a former captain.
“Besides, you look at the type of players they have subsequently become in their current respective training and that says it all,” he added, certainly referring to Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty, Dustin Brown, Justin Williams, Jeff Carter, Toffoli and company.
Happy for the Canadian
At the time of the transaction, on February 14, the Canadian was in complete disarray. Dominique Ducharme had been shown the exit door five days earlier and the team had just suffered an eighth consecutive loss in regular time. A black series that began with two overtime losses.
Since then, the Habs have had their first five-game winning streak since December 2017. A winning streak that ended Tuesday night in Winnipeg.
Even though he now plays on the other side of the country, Toffoli continues to keep an eye on what is happening in Montreal. He is happy to see that these former teammates have managed to turn the situation around.
“I’m not surprised by the team’s recent successes. Everyone in this locker room works hard. No one was happy to lose, Toffoli said.
“I’m happy to see that Martin manages to get them to play in the right way. But I still want to beat them. »