On the eve of the 2023 NHL Draft, the Calgary Flames made their first big move in addressing the non-committal players in the room. With their slew of pending unrestricted free agents on the block, the Flames sent Tyler Toffoli to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for Yegor Sharangovich and a 2023 third-round draft pick.
Toffoli traded to New Jersey
After setting career-highs in Calgary, Toffoli was a prime trade chip and was somehow pried away from the Flames for a 2018 fifth-round selection in Sharangovich and a 2023 third-rounder. The third-round pick was actually originally Calgary’s, as the pick was sent to Seattle in the Calle Jarnkrok trade. The Kraken sent that pick to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Oliver Bjorkstrand, and the Blue Jackets sent it to the Devils for Damon Severson. It has now made its way back to Calgary. The Flames will select at 80th overall with this pick.
Toffoli was dealt as a pending 2024 UFA on a contract that had a cap hit of $4.25M. While his cap hit is as such, he’s only due $3.5M in salary after having his bas salary being higher than the AAV in the previous two seasons. Toffoli posted 34 goals and 39 assists this past season.
In taking back Sharangovich, the Flames gained his signing rights as he is a restricted free agent with arbitration rights. His latest contract was a two-year standard contract worth a total of $4.0M. He scored 13 goals and 17 assists this past year across 75 games, but had a better season the year prior with 24 goals and 22 assists in 76 games. The key in this deal is what the Flames will be able to sign him to.
Conroy on Sharangovich
Here are a few tidbits (paraphrased) on Sharangovich shared by Conroy himself:
- Adding Sharangovich makes the team a little younger
- Can play all three forward positions
- Will succeed if put into a position to succeed
- Excellent penalty killer
- Still trying to bring the youth in and bring the age down
- Aware that it’s a good draft year and third-round pick will make team scouts happy
Watch the video here:
An unbalanced deal for Toffoli
The immediate reaction on this trade is that the Flames took a lesser deal in order to get in on the action. With Conroy being a newly-minted GM, other teams are reportedly taking note of his greenness and are potentially low-balling him. It’s an unenviable job to take on the GM role with the Flames in their current state, but Conroy has to turn theories into reality, proposals into action, and if this is the first domino to fall for the Flames, it’s a hard one to initially stomach.
Toffoli should have commanded a first-round pick given his near point-per-game pace and his borderline elite scoring. Going to a contending team like the Devils, Toffoli is easily a complementary piece the solidifies the top-six, and that’s usually worth a whole lot more than a 25-year-old player with 205 NHL games and a third-round selection.
However as time has passed and reactions have arisen around the web, the Devils community has been vocal that perhaps the Devils gave up too much in the deal too. With the mixed reactions, only time will tell how each team does with each pick.
This move is potentially the first of several for the Flames. Let’s hope they come out on top on aggregate as this is a shaky start.
Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire
