Atlantic Notes: Hoffman, Deslauriers, Czarnik

At least five teams have shown interest in Senators winger Mike Hoffman, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports.  Interestingly enough, not all of them are teams that are expected to be buyers in the next couple of weeks either as the Sabres are among the group that also includes the Blues, Devils, Hurricanes, and Sharks.

Hoffman is having a quieter year offensively than he has had the last couple of seasons but he still sits second on Ottawa in scoring with 37 points (15-22-37) in 54 games.  He also has two years left after this one on his contract with a cap hit just shy of $5.2MM so if the Senators do decide to move him, they’ll be justified in a high asking price.  Garrioch notes that the team is torn on what to do as they know they can get a strong return in a trade but he has started to show some chemistry recently with Matt Duchene who has one more year left on his current deal.

More from around the Atlantic:

• There is mutual interest between the Canadiens and winger Nicolas Deslauriers regarding a contract extension, Renaud Lavoie and Louis Jean of TVA Sports report (link in French). Deslauriers started the season in the minors after clearing waivers back when he was with Buffalo but has been a regular since being recalled back in mid-November and already has set a career high in goals with seven.  However, Montreal’s preference is to get an extension signed before the February 26th trade deadline; otherwise, they may look to trade him and then try to work out a contract in free agency.
• With Boston winger Noel Acciari returning to the lineup tonight, the Bruins announced that they have sent down winger Austin Czarnik to AHL Providence. The timing of this is significant as Czarnik is just one more NHL game away from being waiver-eligible.  If he is someone that they intend to use as a trade chip before the deadline – something our Zach Leach suggested earlier in the week – he likely holds a little more value while he’s in the minors and waiver exempt where the potential acquiring team could then decide whether to call him up or keep him at the minor league level.