TOFFOLI TURNAROUND?

LOS ANGELES, CA -- When Los Angeles Kings head coach Todd McLellan sent up a verbal flare directed at his team after Sunday’s 4-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, it resonated internally and externally.

From suggestions that he was the wrong choice to succeed interim coach Willie Desjardins just a dozen games into a season with low expectations to significant lineup changes, the Kings ended this stretch with a sour but not unexpected 4-8-0 record.

On their way back from the Windy City, the first significant roster change came with the recall of Carl Grundstrom, who was a central figure in the AHL Ontario Reign affiliate strong start. McLellan did not ease the Swede into the lineup, placing him on the left flank of Anze Kopitar and Jeff Carter (who graduated from bottom nine duty) on a reconstituted first line in last night’s 5-3 loss to the Vancouver Canucks – the second loss to their Pacific Division rivals while surrendering 13 goals (five of the powerplay variety).

McLellan’s line-grouping had varied little before the Vancouver tilt, but his shifts affected every line with the biggest change impacting winger Tyler Toffoli, whose stat line in the Blackhawks’ loss earned him a deserved healthy scratch that snapped his 207 consecutive games-played streak. The pending unrestricted free agent was on ice for four even strength goals and did not register a shot on goal in 13:07 of game action.

Despite a solid start (two goals, two assists in three games) in the most pivotal season of his career, Toffoli’s game steadily declined on the recent roadtrip that culminated in a seat in the press box on Wednesday.

McLellan was transparent in his motivation for the move, saying it was not a blanket statement about overall play and appears to be a short-term message to the player.

“You don’t use individuals to send messages to the room,” McLellan said. “The individual is responsible for his play. Tyler was a really good player for a good period this year and then things fell off for him. He’s got so much to give this team and himself, maybe an opportunity to get a little angry at the coach or whoever so he can give us what he has, we’re looking forward to receiving it the next game.”

Given the opportunity to express anger after Thursday’s practice that included significant time working on the NHL’s worst penalty kill, Toffoli deferred on strong words as he has all season. His tone and words were ones of frustration and he fell back on the message he has delivered since Day 1 of training camp – confidence in his game and the belief that it has not “come off the rails.”

But the advance stats show otherwise – courtesy of Sean Tierney’s excellent website Charting Hockey – here’s the combined shot chart of Toffoli’s last five games:

With the large blue dot noting his lone goal, not only has be regressed into shooting from distance and away from his high-success, area but his work rate has declined, as well. A symptom of the entire team’s underperformance? Perhaps, but in this pivotal career segment, something Toffoli must cease immediately. As we suggested earlier and will reinforce now, he must shoot more often and closer to the net – he simply cannot score consistently from the perimeter.

As for the McLellan’s words resonating outside the organization, there were 21 NHL team scouts or executives in press row for Wednesday’s game. While some of the interested observers were there for good reasons (Chicago and Winnipeg’s contingent are presently on the West Coast), the appearance of Ottawa General Manager Pierre Dorion and the duo of Montreal’s Lorne Henning and Scott Mellanby were intriguing attendees. While Los Angeles’ eastern swing next week does include a stop in Montreal, the Habs’ continued search for a left side defence partner for Shea Weber may have drawn focus on Alec Martinez, the puck-moving, shot-blocking blueliner who has an comfortable $4 million cap hit for this season and next.

But back to the Senators and Dorion, what could he be considering? With Colin White and Artem Anisimov shelved due to injuries, the current acute need would be at forward and the suggestion that a Jeff Carter for Bobby Ryan swap could make sense for both teams from a “change of scenery” aspect. Both players have two years remaining on their deals, but that’s where the similarities end and make little sense for Los Angeles. Carter was the immediate beneficiary of the McLellan blender as Kopitar’s new right wing, scoring two goals in the Vancouver loss. While his cap hit is not insignificant at $5.27 million per, if he ever caught fire on the Kings’ top line his cash price tag (a little over $ 7 million total) could make him a very attractive add for a contender – but it would not be a match for Ryan’s paper unless a very unlikely salary retention offer by Dorion.

Carter’s disengaged play last season was a red flag to the marketplace and the major barrier in Blake’s inability to deal him, but in fairness, he has been one of Los Angeles’ better forwards; he’s the best faceoff man by a significant margin and presently projects to a 25-goal season.

Not so the case with Toffoli, who is far more motivated for a productive season in what stands to be his last big NHL contract.

Kings GM Rob Blake will try to hold the line to get some appreciation of his asset, but unless he blazes to a hot streak we haven’t seen for several seasons, he will discounted for being on an expiring contract while posting disappointing numbers. If he continues to dwell on the bottom six in Los Angeles or is subject to further scratches, his contract drive will be a slow as the 405 freeway on a Thursday night.

While it’s too early in the season to make trade demands, what is known is there have been no recent contract talks, to date, between Los Angeles and his reps at CAA Hockey, making him a showcase trade market item. Despite Dorion not being able to see him in uniform last night, a glance at the Sens short-term contract situation can’t help but lend to speculation of Ottawa as a potential landing spot. Mikael Boedker, Vlad Namestnikov and Jean Gabriel-Pageau all are in their walk years as well as relief from the Ryan Callahan and Clarke MacArthur commitments.

Toffoli lacks no-trade protection and cannot block a deal to any prospective suitor. While the benching doesn’t appear to be a last-ditch effort to get the former 30-goal scorer back to that level, it’s a loud call to action for him.