Toffoli traded to Flames by Canadiens

The Canadiens also received a first-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft and a fifth-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. If the first-round pick is not in the top 10 of the 2022 draft, the Flames will trade it. If it is, Calgary will have the option to instead trade its first-round pick in 2023 and a fourth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft.

“We’re excited to bring in Tyler,” Flames general manager Brad Treliving said. “It’s a Stanley Cup winner. To me, he’s top-six forward in this league. He’s a proven scorer in this league. He can touch every part of the game — 5-on-5, power play, penalty kill — and with the pedigree that he has, I think he’s going to be a great addition to our team, so it’s a good day today.”

Toffoli, a 29-year-old forward, has scored 26 points (nine goals, 17 assists) in 37 games this season, his second with the Canadiens after signing a four-year, $17 million contract Oct. 12, 2020. He missed 11 games after having surgery for a hand injury sustained against the Nashville Predators on Dec. 4.

“I think everybody’s fired up,” Flames goalie Jacob Markstrom said. “Everybody knows what kind of player he is. He’s a goal-scorer everywhere he goes, and I’m happy, because he usually always scores on me and he’s been doing it his whole career. I feel he’s going to fit right in.

“He kills plays. He scores shorthanded goals. People look at it that way, but he blocks shots and he’s in the right position. The 5-on-5 game too, he takes his defensive responsibilities and then he goes on the attack and try to create offense. As a goalie, I always like having him on the ice, because I know he’s going to do the right thing and help out the defense first and let the offense come later.”

The Flames (26-13-6) have won six consecutive games and are second in the eight-team Pacific Division, one point behind the Vegas Golden Knights. They host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET; SNW, BSOH, ESPN+, NHL LIVE) and have won six in a row on home ice, where they’ve outscored opponents 29-6,

“We’ve got a long ways to go yet, but you do take your cues from the team,” Treveling said. “The players have done their job. It was time for me to do mine, and part of that is giving them some help. I think if you ask any player, they like their team, and when you can give them some help, I think that’s well received. But certainly the way they’ve been playing, and the way we’ve been playing, I felt it was time to give them some help.”

The Canadiens (8-33-7) are 0-8-2 in their past 10 games, 1-12-4 since Dec. 28 and 0-3-0 since Martin St. Louis replaced Dominique Ducharme as coach Feb. 9. Montreal is last in the NHL one season after making the Stanley Cup Final, a five-game loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Montreal general manager Kent Hughes, who was hired Jan. 19 to replace Marc Bergevin, said changes were coming.

“We have challenges. There’s no question,” Hughes said Jan 21. “The team’s not where we had hoped it would be, or the Canadiens had hoped it would be, at this point in time. My opinion is, some of that is circumstance. But there’s no question that there need to be changes.”

Toffoli has scored 370 points (182 goals, 188 assists) in 614 regular-season games for the Los Angeles Kings, Vancouver Canucks and Canadiens. He’s scored 39 points (16 goals, 23 assists) in 76 Stanley Cup Playoff games including 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) in 26 games to help the Kings win the Cup for the second time in three seasons under coach Darryl Sutter, now with the Flames.

“We tried to get out in front of it for a lot of reasons, most notably, when you look back at deadlines, there’s a transition going to a new place,” Treliving said. “And so giving us, Tyler specifically, more time to adjust and integrate into our group, I think, is important, but it makes it more seamless when you know the coach and the coach knows you. There’s not going to be a getting-to-know-you phase. It’s going to be “let’s get going” right away. So certainly Darryl’s knowledge of the player was a factor.”

Pitlick, a 30-year-old forward, has scored 86 points (47 goals, 39 assists) in 311 games for the Edmonton Oilers, Dallas Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, Arizona Coyotes and Flames.

Heineman was chosen by the Florida Panthers in the second round (No. 43) of the 2020 NHL Draft and traded to Calgary for forward Sam Bennett on April 12. The 20-year-old forward has scored 16 points (11 goals, five assists) in 36 games of his second season for Leksands of the SHL, the top professional hockey league in Sweden.

The Canadiens acquired goalie Andrew Hammond in a trade with the Minnesota Wild for forward Brandon Baddock on Saturday. They are without their top two goalies: Carey Price has not played this season because of a knee injury and Jake Allen is out with a lower-body injury. Cayden Primeau and Sam Montembeault have played in their absence.