February 15, 2025
Former Flames series: Winger’s career comes full circle in California
NHL

Former Flames series: Winger’s career comes full circle in California

Since his debut with the Los Angeles Kings in the 2012/13 season, winger Tyler Toffoli has completed several stints in the NHL. Since he played for five other teams in the meantime, his career came full circle. After signing a four-year, $24 million contract with San Jose, he returned to California.

In their current rebuild, the young Sharks team needed an experienced goal-scoring striker for a team that still has a lot of work to do. He has so far complied with this requirement in the first year of his contract.

In a Sharks uniform, the scorer has 17 goals and 30 points in 47 games. Toffoli is the team’s all-time leader with an “A” and has been a leader on and off the ice.

He played with Macklin Celebrini at times, helping the star rookie make a run for the Calder Trophy that year. Dustin Wolf, the current Flames goaltender, is fully committed to a trophy run.

When GM Craig Conroy replaced Brad Treliving, his first move was to trade Toffoli to rejuvenate the roster. When the New Jersey Devils came calling, Conroy found a great opportunity to do so.

In June 2023, the Flames sent Tyler Toffoli to the Devils and secured a 2023 third-round pick and Yegor Sharangovich. After scoring 45 goals and 96 points in 119 games in Calgary, Toffoli was on his way to his fifth NHL club in four years.

When Belarus forward Sharangovich first arrived, he got off to a flying start with the Flames. In all 82 games he scored 31 goals and 59 points.

Unfortunately, only eight pucks have reached the net since then. With 14 points in 37 games, it was a real challenge to get his game back to last year’s level.

After scoring the only goal in the 4-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues, Sharangovich has three points in three games and a +5 rating in that time. Hopefully this hot streak can continue for the Flames as they find themselves in the second wild card spot.

The third-round pick the Flames received from the Devils happened to be their own. After changing hands with two other teams, Calgary got its pick back and chose Aydar Suniev. The Russian forward is playing in the NCAA this year and has 26 points in 21 games at the University of Massachusetts.

Conroy traded a goalscorer for a goalscorer and successfully added a talented young player to his squad. The additional draft capital used to select a talented college player with near points per game was also a smart move. Not bad for his first step as general manager.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *