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Mike Hoffman

Poll: Are The Montreal Canadiens A Playoff Team In 2021-22?

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After making it all the way to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, losing in five games to the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Montreal Canadiens have had one of the most interesting offseasons of any team. That much roster turnover is unusual for a team that made it that far in the playoffs, but a decent portion of it has been out of their control.

A good portion of Montreal’s starting 12 forwards will look different next season. Gone down the middle are Phillip Danault, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, and Eric Staal. Dvorak will attempt to replace Danault’s shutdown role with a little more offensive touch but less defensive prowess. Kotkaniemi’s third-line role is likely to be replaced by another young center, most probably Jake Evans. Staal’s fourth-line role will likely be comprised of a more defensive-minded pivot in Cedric Paquette. Their group of wingers will look different too, losing out on Tomas Tatar’s two-way play in favor of a power-play specialist in Mike Hoffman. Gone is veteran Corey Perry in the bottom six, being replaced by another veteran presence in Mathieu Perreault.

The team’s defense faces the loss of the team’s captain in Shea Weber. His injury will keep him out for at least this entire season and puts the rest of his career in jeopardy. His absence will be replaced by committee, as youngster Alexander Romanov and new addition David Savard should see more minutes. The left side stays relatively constant from last season, and overseas addition Chris Wideman could challenge for some games as well.

A tandem of Carey Price and Jake Allen returns after a successful regular season campaign.

However, a team that barely squeaked into the playoffs last season returns with some question marks. Full seasons of Jonathan Drouin and Cole Caufield help boost the team, but downgrades from Danault to Dvorak and Tatar to Hoffman raise near-negating doubts. The success of youngsters like Evans and Romanov will be crucial if Montreal wants to make a return to the playoffs in 2022, and they’ll need repeat performances from players such as Jeff Petry and Josh Anderson.

So the question to you, PHR readers, is this: has Montreal done enough this offseason to yield a playoff team in an increasingly competitive Eastern Conference? Make your voice heard below:

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Montreal Canadiens Sign Mike Hoffman

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The Montreal Canadiens are adding some serious goal-scoring to the top-nine, signing Mike Hoffman to a three-year contract. The deal will carry an average annual value of $4.5MM.  PuckPedia reports that Hoffman will earn $3.5MM in 2021-22 and $5MM in each of the final two seasons.

Hoffman, 31, is one of the most lethal powerplay weapons in the NHL, and should immediately help Montreal with the man-advantage. Even more than that he adds another legitimate offensive weapon to a team that struggled to score goals in 2020-21. Even in a down year by his standards, Hoffman’s 17 goals would have tied him for second on the Canadiens, behind only Tyler Toffoli. His 36 points would have been behind only Toffoli and Nick Suzuki among the forwards, and more than replaces the numbers that Philipp Danault provided (though obviously not his defensive or positional abilities).

The question now is where Hoffman fits exactly, given the current makeup of the team. The Canadiens already have Toffoli, Brendan Gallagher, Josh Anderson, Joel Armia and Cole Caufield on the wing, not to mention Jonathan Drouin who is expected to ready to play again at the start of the upcoming season. Hoffman will have to find fit somewhere on those top three lines, or likely won’t be able to provide enough offense to offset the hefty cap hit he just received.

Still, there’s no doubt that Hoffman can score, and that alone made him an interesting target in this year’s free agency. He ranked 12th on our list of the Top 50 UFAs, with a prediction of three years and $12MM for the Canadiens.

Blues Open To Moving Some Pending Unrestricted Free Agents

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The Blues have been in a slump for the last month.  They’ve lost seven straight and 12 of their last 14 games and as a result, they’ve gone from a team that’s in a playoff spot in the West Division to one that is tied for fifth with San Jose and now sit five points behind Arizona for fourth place.  As a result, Pierre LeBrun notes in TSN’s latest Insider Trading segment (video link) that Blues GM Doug Armstrong is indicating that he’s open to moving some of his pending unrestricted free agents, highlighting winger Mike Hoffman and center Tyler Bozak as potential options to me.

Hoffman is clearly the headliner of the two.  He was pegged to be one of the more highly sought-after players in free agency last fall but it took a long time for a market to materialize.  He ultimately settled on a PTO with the Blues with the framework of an agreement in place; the two sides worked out a one-year, $4MM pact just before the regular season got underway.  Unfortunately for him and St. Louis, it hasn’t been the best of fits as the 31-year-old has just 21 points (9-12-21) in 36 games and was recently a healthy scratch.  For someone that had 65 goals over the previous two years, they were hoping for more from him.  On the other hand, that recent track record should generate some interest on the trade front in the coming days as well.

As for Bozak, he has had a limited role this season while also missing significant time due to a concussion.  As a result, he has been limited to just two goals and two assists in 14 games while averaging a career-low 13:14 per contest.  While he would serve as capable bottom-six depth, he also carries a $5MM AAV which, even if St. Louis pays up to half of it down, will limit his market considerably.

Jaden Schwartz is another pending unrestricted free agent but wasn’t mentioned by LeBrun as a possible trade option.  The 28-year-old has been with St. Louis for his whole career spanning parts of 10 years and at this point, it’s quite possible that the intent at this point is to try to work on a contract extension.  If that’s the case, those discussions would logically need to intensify over the next few days.

Armstrong is no stranger to selling when his team has been hanging around the playoff race before.  He moved Kevin Shattenkirk four years ago when they were in a playoff spot and the following season, sent Paul Stastny to Winnipeg when they were only a point out.  With that in mind, even if they pick up a couple of wins by next week, the GM could still lean towards selling.  As teams that are looking to buy start honing in on their desired candidates, they’ll now need to take a look at the Blues as well.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Snapshots: Quarantine, Lundqvist, Hoffman

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A lot of the focus for trade watchers right now is on Pierre-Luc Dubois and the Montreal Canadiens, but Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports pours some cold water on the wild speculation today, noting how difficult it will be for trades to be completed in-season. If Dubois—or anyone on a U.S.-based team for that matter—were to be acquired by the Canadiens, he’d face at minimum a 14-day quarantine. That means missing seven or eight games, a huge amount in a shortened 56-game schedule.

Still, for a player like Dubois who would be a core piece for the next several years, missing seven games doesn’t seem like it should really matter that much. If he does get traded midseason (which is far from a sure thing), dropping out of the bidding because of a two-week quarantine would probably be a mistake.

  • Henrik Lundqvist left the hospital yesterday after his open-heart procedure, tweeting out how happy he was to head home to his kids. The veteran goaltender will not play this season and instead is focusing on his health, though has not officially retired from playing yet. The Washington Capitals signed Craig Anderson this week and are using him instead as the third goaltender this season, while Lundqvist recovers from surgery. His one-year contract expires at the end of the season.
  • After getting his work visa issues dealt with, Mike Hoffman will be in the lineup for the St. Louis Blues this evening. He’ll be on the second line with Jaden Schwartz and Robert Thomas where he spent most of training camp. Sammy Blais, who is serving a two-game suspension, will come out of the lineup. Hoffman comes to St. Louis on a one-year deal to reset his free agent market after waiting nearly the entire offseason to sign.

Mike Hoffman Officially Signs With St. Louis Blues

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Though it had been expected for some time, the St. Louis Blues officially signed Mike Hoffman to a one-year contract today. The deal will pay the free agent sniper $4MM and effectively ends his professional tryout. The Blues had to wait to complete some cap gymnastics in order to fit Hoffman in, but the contract is now filed.

Hoffman, 31, was our fourth-ranked player on the annual Top 50 UFA list at the start of the offseason, but after the market quickly turned was left without a long-term deal. Though perhaps other teams offered multi-year pacts, he ended up agreeing to a one-year deal with a strong club in the hopes that his market will be strong again next offseason when things are, hopefully, a little closer to normal. There’s absolutely no on-ice reason for Hoffman’s long wait as he was arguably the best goal-scoring weapon available on the market and now goes to a team that will be in need of a new sniper.

The Blues are without Vladimir Tarasenko for the time being and watched Alex Steen retire due to injury, meaning there’s plenty of opportunity for Hoffman in St. Louis. He’s been playing in camp so far with Jaden Schwartz and Robert Thomas on a dynamic second line, while also being a go-to option on the powerplay.

Taylor Hall also settled for a one-year deal but went to a rebuilding team in Buffalo for the chance to play beside an all-world talent like Jack Eichel. Hoffman took a different approach, joining a strong team that is a lot more likely to bring some playoff time. In his near-500 game NHL career, Hoffman has only played in the postseason three times and that includes Florida’s qualification-round loss to the New York Rangers last summer. In St. Louis, there’s not only a chance he could rebuild some value, but he also might get a chance to raise the Stanley Cup as they did in 2019.

How can they afford him exactly? It’s a complicated dance that will include placing Tarasenko and Steen on long-term injured reserve, while likely maintaining an NHL roster below the 23-man limit. Worth it for a player who has scored at least 22 goals in each of his six full seasons, but still difficult to navigate throughout the season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Blues Sign Mike Hoffman To PTO Agreement

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Dec 28: According to Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic, Hoffman is believed to have a one-year contract in place worth between $3.5MM and $4.5MM. The two sides are waiting to make it official to help maximize their salary cap flexibility.

Dec 27: Mike Hoffman is certainly taking a different route to securing a contract for the upcoming season.  The Blues announced that they have signed the winger to a PTO agreement with an invitation to training camp.  Back when free agency opened up, this certainly wasn’t the expected outcome for the player ranked fourth on our Top 50 UFA list.

The 31-year-old is coming off of another productive season that saw him put up 29 goals and 30 assists in 69 games with the Panthers.  It was the fifth time in the last six seasons that he had at least 27 goals and he’s tied for 16th in goals scored by any player over the past six seasons.  Hoffman is particularly adept when it comes to power play production and has scored 28 times with the man advantage over the past two years, tied for the fifth-most in the league.

So how has it come to this?  The UFA market wasn’t kind to wingers seeking long-term, big-money agreements; Taylor Hall had to settle for a one-year, $8MM deal with Buffalo while Tyler Toffoli opted for a multi-year agreement but had to take a pay cut to do so with Montreal.  Hoffman indicated a willingness to do like Hall and sign for one year but the higher-priced offers never really materialized.

Having said that, this isn’t a typical PTO agreement.  The Blues will have some salary cap flexibility with Alex Steen (out for the year) and Vladimir Tarasenko (out for several more months) heading for LTIR but for St. Louis to best utilize the cap space that those placements will provide, they will want to wait to move them there until the start of the season.  Hoffman will presumably sign a one-year agreement once the season starts for a much higher price tag than a deal that’s close to the league minimum as players who earn deals off of PTOs typically get.

St. Louis still has to re-sign RFA defenseman Vince Dunn but the approach for him could very well be the same, to wait for the LTIR placements to be made official and then sign the contract into that space.

It has been an interesting free agent market for Hoffman but it appears he will eventually get his one-year deal with St. Louis being the team to give it to him.  He’ll just have to wait a few more weeks for it to happen.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Snapshots: Playoffs, Hoffman, Schedule, Travel, 2021-22 Season

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With the agreement between the NHL and NHLPA official now in the books after both sides have voted to approve it, teams would play their entire season within their own conference (altered conferences can be found here). From there, the playoffs will not alter from the regular season too much as the top four teams in each division will play against each other with 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3 for the first two rounds, according to NHL.com’s John Shannon. Each division winner gets a spot in the Stanley Cup semifinals, seeded by their regular season points percentage.

  • With the rumors and now agreement on a 56-game season, the Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch reports that there is plenty of talks heating up around the top unrestricted free agent still available on the market in Mike Hoffman. The 31-year-old is coming off a 29-goal season last year in 69 games and had a 36-goal campaign the previous year. Garrioch reports that as many as six teams are in on him. However, most teams are already tight against the salary cap, which has complicated his status and why he has waited this long. Hoffman has been talked about in a number of situations, including Nashville, Boston and Columbus with several other teams in the mix.
  • Garrioch also notes that a schedule is expected to be released mid-week this week once the NHL comes to an agreement with the Canadian provinces. While most of the talk between the NHL and the Canadian provinces are centering around the Canucks and B.C., there still hasn’t been an agreement with the province of Ontario either regarding whether the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators will be able to play in their own rinks. It is believed that an agreement with Ontario should be easier to finalize, however, than with B.C. Garrioch adds that even if there is a province-wide lockdown, it shouldn’t affect Ottawa’s training camp, although access to the training facility would be really limited.
  • While restrictions should be better for players as they no longer will be forced into a bubble like during the playoffs, the travel restrictions for teams that go on the road will not be much better, according to TSN’s Frank Seravalli. Players and staff will be restricted to the game rink, practice rink or the hotel. No exceptions, including food.
  • Seravalli notes that NHL players have the right to opt out of the 2020-21 season, but the league “may investigate any circumstances … that these provisions were intentionally used to, or had the effect of, circumventing the CBA” for salary cap purposes.
  • Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston reports that the NHL intends to return to a traditional season for 2021-22, which is expected to start in October. The league had initially hoped to get an 82-game season in this year, but instead will shorten the 2020-21 season in hopes of finishing their season in mid-July.

Snapshots: Pacioretty, Hoffman, Kase, Sweden

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News broke yesterday that the Vegas Golden Knights have had trade discussions regarding Max Pacioretty and the hockey world, desperate for any news right now, exploded with potential scenarios. Fans of nearly every team in the league pictured the 30-goal scorer in their uniform, but Jesse Granger of The Athletic believes that the Golden Knights shouldn’t rush into anything. Though he lists Pacioretty alongside Jonathan Marchessault and Marc-Andre Fleury as three names Vegas has considered moving, he reasons that it would be a step in the wrong direction to trade the former Montreal Canadiens forward due to a lack of scoring throughout the roster.

Tucked away in the piece is another note, however, and that is the Golden Knights have had no communication with Mike Hoffman’s camp. The free agent sniper was listed as a potential target by Frank Seravalli of TSN when he broke the Pacioretty news yesterday, but it appears as though that may not be the case. The Golden Knights could obviously make contact if they do move a contract like Pacioretty’s $7MM cap hit, but time is running out for Hoffman to sign with a team before training camp starts in a few weeks.

  • The Philadelphia Flyers have loaned David Kase to the Czech National Team for the upcoming Channel One Cup, which starts next week. Kase had been on loan with HC Karlovy Vary but will get a chance to compete for his country at the international tournament. At some point, the 23-year-old should be expected to return to North America to quarantine and then take part in NHL training camp, but given the tournament isn’t over until December 20, it won’t be for a little while.
  • More bad news for the Swedish World Junior team as the goaltending coach has also tested positive for COVID-19, the fourth staff member in the last few days. At this point, anyone that has tested positive is not supposed to be allowed to travel to the bubble in Edmonton for the tournament, while others are not supposed to be added to the traveling party. That leaves Sweden without several key coaches, including head coach Tomas Monten and assistant Anton Lundberg. At this point, given that several players were also excluded due to positive tests, it’s not clear if Sweden will even be able to take part.

Vegas Golden Knights Shopping Max Pacioretty

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Perhaps spurred by the recent progress in getting the 2020-21 season up and running, the Vegas Golden Knights are back at it, working the phones in an effort to make a move to get salary cap compliant. Vegas is one of a number of teams currently over the salary cap upper limit and must shed some salary before play begins. However, the player that GM Kelly McCrimmon is allegedly pushing to other teams may come as a surprise. TSN’s Frank Seravalli reports that veteran forward Max Pacioretty has been the subject of trade talks this off-season, with those discussions picking up steam in recent days.

Pacioretty, 32, may be one of the older players on the Vegas roster but is still an elite scorer. The long-time Montreal Canadien was in fact the Knights’ leading scorer this past season, recording 66 points in 71 games for a career-high scoring clip. He added another eight points in the playoffs. In the two seasons since coming over from the Habs, Pacioretty has shown no signs of slowing down. His loss would be felt in a major way in Vegas, both on the ice and in the locker room.

However, Pacioretty’s $7MM, while commensurate to his production, is a massive weight on the Golden Knight’s salary cap. If the team were to move Pacioretty without retaining any salary, they would not only be under the cap ceiling but would have the flexibility to make an addition if they so desire. Seravalli mentions top available free agent Mike Hoffman or a reunion with Erik Haula as possibilities. One would also think that Pacioretty would still bring in a considerable return as well; he cost Vegas Nick Suzuki, Tomas Tatar, and a second-round pick just two years ago. However, in a definitive buyer’s market, McCrimmon would have to be careful not to give away Pacioretty for too little just for the sake of cap savings. The team was already lambasted for trading top defenseman Nate Schmidt for pennies on the dollar in order to facilitate the signing of Alex Pietrangelo. 

One other concern for the Knights’ brass is the locker room culture. There have already been reports of many players being unhappy with the frequent trades that the team has made and the perceived lack of loyalty toward the roster. The team has dealt Schmidt, Haula, Colin Miller, Cody Eakin, Malcolm Subban, Brandon Pirri, and Paul Stastny all in the past 18 months, leaving the young franchise with very little roster consistency. There are certainly some in the room who have to be unhappy to even hear the whispers of a potential Pacioretty move. Others in the media have noted that he is not the only name on the block either, with fan favorite Marc-Andre Fleury likely being floated again as well. Vegas must tread carefully when it comes to making any further moves and a Pacioretty trade in particular can only be made with a considerable return and a plan to replace him with the cap savings.

Poll: Which Team Is The Best Fit For Mike Hoffman?

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We’re now more than a month into NHL free agency and Mike Hoffman still sits on the open market without a contract. The 30-year-old forward is taking his time with what could be a career-changing decision, but it is still unclear where exactly he will eventually land.

From the start of free agency we’ve heard almost every team linked to Hoffman in some sort of speculation, with even his old team the Florida Panthers linked recently. There have been some like the Philadelphia Flyers who apparently haven’t reached out despite a potential need, but the longer it goes on the more teams may believe they can get a bargain.

But where is the right fit for Hoffman? When we polled the PHR community a few weeks ago, the vote was split on whether the free agent should be looking for a one-year contract or still trying to secure a multi-year deal. We already saw players like Taylor Hall and Tyson Barrie take one-year deals to try and build their value for a bigger contract next summer, but is that the right fit for a player who hasn’t really experienced any inconsistency on the ice?

Hoffman, the best pure goal scorer among any of the free agents this year, has found the back of the net 169 times over the past six seasons. That includes 29 goals in just 69 games this year, easily on pace to crack the 30-goal mark for the second consecutive season had it not been stopped prematurely.

Lots of teams could use that kind of instant offense, especially on the powerplay. Despite finishing tenth overall in the regular season and going all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals, the Dallas Stars wouldn’t be considered an offensive juggernaut. In fact, the team scored just 178 goals in the regular season, putting them 29 out of 31 teams. The Columbus Blue Jackets had a similar story, relying on tight defense and strong goaltending to go as far as they did. Columbus recently lost Gustav Nyquist to a long-term injury as well, meaning their search for goals may be increased even further.

But even those teams that can score should be interested in the 30-goal man. The Colorado Avalanche had the fourth most goals scored in the entire league but were still in the bottom-half in powerplay percentage. Hoffman has scored 60 powerplay goals in his career, more even than Nathan MacKinnon despite playing in fewer games.

Why not even consider a team that is still rebuilding, like the Detroit Red Wings? On a short-term deal, Hoffman would be guaranteed plenty of powerplay time and shifts next to the team’s best players and could test the market again down the road. The team on the other hand could potentially move him at the deadline to a contender for some added assets.

There’s a case to be made for almost every team in the league, assuming that Hoffman comes at a reasonable price. But which is the absolute best fit? Cast your vote below and leave your thoughts in the comments.

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