Canucks fans sound off as Toffoli's play shines spotlight on Benning again

Jun 8 2021, 6:24 pm

For the Montreal Canadiens, Tyler Toffoli is the gift that keeps on giving.

For Jim Benning, he’s the star in the nightmare he keeps reliving.

Strapped for cash due to years of salary cap mismanagement, not only did the Vancouver Canucks not re-sign Toffoli this offseason, they didn’t even offer him a contract. The Habs took advantage, signing him to a reasonable four-year, $4.25 million contract.

It was a contract that was always going to make the Canucks look bad, particularly when the likes of Loui Eriksson and Brandon Sutter have higher cap hits.

However, I’m not sure anyone could have foreseen just how bad it was going to blow up in Benning’s face. Because it couldn’t have been much worse.

Toffoli isn’t just having a good year with the Canadiens. He’s having a great season.

It began with Toffoli scoring a hat trick in his first game back in Vancouver in January. He went on to torch the Canucks for eight goals and five assists in the eight games he played against his former team.

The 29-year-old led the Habs in goals (28) and points (44) during the regular season. After the conclusion of the regular season, Toffoli wrote an article for the Players’ Tribune, in which he said he felt “rejuvenated” in Vancouver and spoke highly of the “incredible chemistry” he had with Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller.

“I could have seen myself finishing out my career there,” he said.

Toffoli now leads the Canadiens in playoff points (10) and is tied for the team lead in postseason goals (4) and assists (6) too.

On Monday night, the Habs’ sniper scored the game-winning goal in overtime to send Montreal to the third round.

We’re Canucks-focused here in Vancouver, but even people out-of-market took a moment to reflect on the Benning blunder.

Toffoli’s name was trending on social media in Vancouver, while “Jim Benning” was one of the top trending topics on Twitter Canada-wide.

Canucks fans, of course, still aren’t over it.

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