The New Jersey Devils should trade Tyler Toffoli

With their playoff chances dwindling, the Devils would likely be best served selling the veteran sniper.

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I loved the Tyler Toffoli trade from the moment it was made. Loved it.

Tom Fitzgerled converted Yegor Sharangovich, who had just three goals over his final 44 games last year while posting poor on-ice metrics, and a draft pick nabbed from the rights to a player the team wasn’t going to re-sign (Damon Severson), into a 70+ point winger with Stanley Cup winning pedigree and strong on-ice impacts.

Even factoring in how well Yegor Sharangovich has scored in Calgary, and how things have gone for the Devils this season, I think it’s a bet you make 10 times over.

The Devils wanted reliable production – particularly in the way of goals – as they looked to take the next step from very good to true contenders.

It wasn’t realistic to expect that from Sharangovich, who needed a change of scenery. It was from Toffoli.

While his total outputs have predictably seen a dip following a career season, Toffoli has maintained his goal scoring.

He is on pace for 35 goals over the course of a full schedule, which is as much as you could reasonably hope for.

It is the Devils as a whole not holding up their end of the bargain. Toffoli absolutely has his warts (iffy decision making at times, lack of foot speed, etc.) but he has scored at the high-end rate the Devils wanted.

Unfortunately, consistently slow starts, key injuries, poor goaltending, and a variety of other factors have never allowed the Devils to really get their season off the ground.

They have now completed nearly 75% of their schedule. They own a -12 goal differential, have no answers to their goaltending woes, and the longest winning streak they have put together is three games. Oh, and they sit seven points out of the closest playoff spot.

After another dud in Los Angeles on Sunday, Young Dom has the Devils’ playoff chances sitting at just 15%. The clock hasn’t struck midnight on the season but, well, it’s 11 p.m. and the team is still searching for a whole lot of answers.

That’s why I think Tom Fitzgerald should trade Toffoli. I simply can’t get behind the argument for keeping him around when the team’s playoff chances are miniscule.

He is turning 32 in a couple of months. This version of Toffoli is the best we are going to see.

That’s not to say he’ll be useless moving forward but his hands and foot speed are only going to get worse with time. Re-signing him isn’t an overly appealing option.

The Devils already have $6 million committed annually to a soon to be 33-year-old in Ondrej Palat. Call me crazy but I don’t think they should be looking to make another investment like that in Toffoli.