We were clearly wrong in our Canucks Trade Deadline Preview article when we said we didn’t expect Jim Benning to do anything substantial at the deadline. Late last night, when informed about the injury timetable for star forward Brock Boeser, Benning decided to reward his players and coaches by trading Tim Schaller, promising young center Tyler Madden, and a 2^nd round pick in the 2020 draft to Los Angeles in exchange for stud forward Tyler Toffoli. This move significantly improves Vancouver’s playoff aspirations, even without Brock Boeser, as they currently sit at 69 points in 59 games, which is 1 point behind the division-leading Edmonton Oilers.

Toffoli is expected to play in Vancouver’s top 6, as he has already experienced a forty-two-second increase in ice time from his previous career average of 15:54 this season under new coach Todd McLellan. Points wise Toffoli registered 34 points in 58 games for Los Angeles this season, including 18 goals, which is five more than his 2018-19 campaign in 24 fewer games. Toffoli also matched his point total from last season in 24 fewer games. Tyler Toffoli has always been one of the better players when it comes to AB, as his career AB score is +2.55, despite coming off his worst AB season since 2012-2013. Before this, however, Toffoli registered back to back +6 AB seasons which is tremendously high. Toffoli also has impressive penalty taken/drawn and giveaway/takeaway ratios with 8:10 and 29:31 respectively. As a 27-year old, Toffoli makes $4.6 million per season but is set to hit unrestricted free agency on July 1^st.

Tim Schaller is also a solid AB player, as his career AB score is a +1.3. His taken/drawn and giveaway/takeaway ratios are both solid at 7:7 and 8:14 respectively. Schaller was also a team-worst -13 in +/- and hasn’t been contributing to the Canucks’ success points-wise, as he only has 6 points in 51 games this season while being paid $1.9 million. Schaller will also be an unrestricted free agent on July 1^st. Madden is the best piece the Canucks gave up in this trade, however. Jim Benning insisted the Canucks are deep at the Center position for years to come, and that the team could afford to part with Madden in the long-run. At Northeastern University, Madden has 37 points in 27 games and has scored 9 more goals than he did in his previous season in 9 fewer games. Madden was the Canucks’ 3^rd round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft. The Canucks will not have a pick in the 2020 NHL draft until the 3^rd round as a result of this trade, and the JT Miller trade from earlier this summer.

This may be the move that puts the Canucks over the top in the Pacific and could help them go on a deep playoff run depending on the severity of the Boeser injury. We look forward to seeing what else Jim Benning has up his sleeve, however, we don’t expect any more major deals from Vancouver before the February 24^th deadline. More to come.