It was a banner night for the LA Kings, who took part in the 2020 NHL Stadium Series against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night. More specifically, it was a monster night for Kings forward Tyler Toffoli, who tallied a hat-trick to seal the deal in a 3-1 win for LA.
What makes Toffoli's performance so special is that his hat-trick is the first ever scored in an outdoor NHL game. Not a bad way to showcase your skill if you're Toffoli, heading into the NHL trade deadline on Monday, Feb 24th.
The 27-year-old, who has spent his entire career with the Kings organization, opened up the scoring in the 1st period on a feed from Alex Iafallo. Colorado would knot things up at 1 in the 2nd, but some late-game heroics by Toffoli would put the Kings ahead late in the third, but his empty-net tally with just 5 seconds remaining would seal the deal.
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With the Kings well outside of the playoff race, they are most certainly expected to be sellers at the deadline and Toffoli is expected to be one of the players on LA's roster who could draw a lot of attention from a handful of playoff contenders.
The Scarborough, Ontario native has notched 34 points in 58 games this season, already matching his point total from last season in 24 fewer games.
This does not preclude the possibility of LA still putting forward an offer to extend Toffoli, however, this is not a team who is willing to risk losing Toffoli for nothing, as the pending UFA may elect to test free agency to find the best fit for him on a seven-year term, likely with a much higher cap hit than his current $4.6M AAV. If a deal cannot be reached to extend Toffoli this week, his tenure in LA will undoubtedly be coming to an end.
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