Veteran Jets center expected to test free agency

The Jets will now focus on their roster after Scott Arniel was elevated to the head coaching position on Friday.  With several free agents of note and little cap space to work with, they’ll try to pick between who to keep and who to let go. It appears that winger Tyler Toffoli will be among the ones that move on as David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports that the veteran is expected to hit the open market in July.

The 32-year-old has moved around in recent years.  This time a year ago, he was with Calgary before being moved to New Jersey after early extension talks went nowhere.  Then, at the trade deadline, he was on the move again, with Winnipeg flipping a 2024 third-round pick and a 2025 second-rounder to get him as a rental to boost their offense in the tight Central Division.

The change of scenery bolstered Winnipeg’s attack, but Toffoli saw his numbers dip somewhat.  After putting up 26 goals and 18 assists in 61 games with the Devils, the veteran recorded seven goals and four helpers in 18 regular season games with the Jets.  Like many of Winnipeg’s key forwards, Toffoli was quiet in their five-game loss in the opening round, recording just two goals.

Toffoli was one of the more prominent scorers available on his last trip through free agency back in 2020.  However, in a deflated market, he settled for a four-year, $17M agreement with Montreal.  Despite playing for four years on that contract, Toffoli was pretty consistent, notching at least 20 goals each time while tallying 115 times in 287 games; that works out to an average of 33 goals per 82 contests.  With many teams looking to add scoring this summer, this should work out in Toffoli’s favor.

While the fact that he has bounced around so much lately may raise some eyeballs (he played for two different teams in 2019-20 before signing with Montreal the following summer), Toffoli has shown that he can quickly produce in a new system.  Accordingly, he should be well-positioned to earn another multi-year agreement and could push to land a contract in the range of last year’s top-paid forward Alex Killorn, who inked a four-year, $25M agreement with Anaheim.  That would be a nice improvement after how things went for Toffoli last time.