Toffoli began his NHL career playing for Sutter with the Los Angeles Kings, winning the Stanley Cup in 2014. He'll see him Tuesday to get a refresher, but he already knows what to expect and what's expected.
Asked when he needed to arrive for a 10 a.m. meeting, Toffoli said with a laugh, "I'll probably be the first one there."
Smart man. Smart move.
The Flames have established themselves as contenders in their first full season since Sutter, their coach from 2002-06 and general manager from 2003-10, took over behind the bench again March 11, 2021.
In terms of point percentage, the best measure due to COVID-19 schedule disruptions this season, the Flames (26-13-6) are first in the Pacific Division and third in the Western Conference at .644 percent.
They're eighth offensively (3.33 goals per game) and second defensively (2.40 goals against per game).
"We've got a long ways to go yet, but you do take your cues from the team," GM Brad Treliving said. "The players have done their job. It was time for me to do mine, and part of that is giving them some help."
[RELATED: Flames acquire Toffoli from Canadiens | NHL Trade Tracker]
The 2022 Trade Deadline isn't until March 21, five weeks away. But if you find a player you want at a price you're willing to pay, why wait?
When every team in the NHL is trying to maneuver at once, accidents happen.
"It's like rush-hour traffic," Treliving said. "It's five lanes merging into one, the closer you get to it, so if you can get out in front of it, that's the preference of mine."
When teams add players late in the regular season, they have little time to adjust before the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"I'm under the strong belief that the sooner you can make [trades] the better, because you bring them in later and it's 40 days before the end of the season, a lot of times it never clicks," Sutter said.
Toffoli should click in Calgary.
Treliving said he had been chasing Toffoli for years, since he was assistant GM of the Phoenix Coyotes and interviewed him over dinner before the 2010 NHL Draft, when the Kings selected him in the second round (No. 47).
Finally, he got him, and he got him with term. The 29-year-old is in the second year of the four-year, $17 million contract ($4.25 million annual average value) he signed with Montreal on Oct. 12, 2020.
Treliving said that was a reason the Flames gave up what they did: forward Tyler Pitlick, forward prospect Emil Heineman, a first-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft and a fifth-rounder in 2023. (If the first-rounder is in the top 10, they'll have the option of sending the Canadiens their first-rounder in 2023 and a fourth-rounder in 2024 instead.)
Toffoli adds offense, and he's proven he can do it in the playoffs. He has scored between 23-31 goals in a season five times. He scored 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) in 26 games when the Kings won the Cup in 2014 and 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in 22 games when the Canadiens made the Stanley Cup Final last season.
"I think everybody's fired up," 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."
Video: The Flames acquire Tyler Toffoli in trade
The key, though, is Toffoli's all-around game. He plays each wing and on each special teams unit. Sutter called him a 200-foot player, which, to Sutter, is what it's all about.
"I came into the League obviously playing that style of hockey, and I'm excited to be back at it," Toffoli said. "… It's hard hockey in the sense of teams don't get a whole lot, and it's very frustrating."
Toffoli said he knows half of the Flames roster, and the half he doesn't know has texted him already.
He roomed with forward Sean Monahan with Ottawa of the Ontario Hockey League. He played with forwards Trevor Lewis, Milan Lucic and Brad Richardson during his time with the Kings from 2012-20 and with Markstrom and defenseman Chris Tanev with the Vancouver Canucks at the end of the 2019-20 season.
"There's already a chemistry there," said Lucic, a close friend. "There's already a familiarity there. So, I think he'll fit right in."
Bottom line: Toffoli should need less of an adjustment period than most players acquired before the deadline, and he will have a longer one, anyway. The Flames already were buying into Sutter's style, and now they've added a player who has lifted the Cup because of it.
"Experience is one thing," Sutter said. "Winning experience is a total different one. Totally different."
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