I woke up this morning to a notification on my phone saying that Mike Hoffman has been traded to Sharks. Not very surprising, as after all the recent headlines surrounding his girlfriend, it seemed his time in Ottawa really was coming to a end fast. The trade with the Sharks was as following:
To San Jose:
Mike Hoffman
Cody Donaghey
2020 5th round pick
To Ottawa:
Mikkel Boedker
Julius Bergman
2020 6th round pick
Now both of the prospects exchanged don’t seem to be future locks to play in the NHL, but it does look like Bergman could maybe be a top 6 defensemen one day. Even with the possibility of Ottawa receiving the better prospect in this trade, it’s still very lopsided. Hoffman is a much better offensive player then Boedker is. Hoffman is making 5.1 million dollars a season for the next 2 seasons, but he has a lethal shot and has scored at least 22 goals is each of the past 4 season, proving to be a valuable top 6 forward on any team. Then there is Boedker, who is making 4 million dollars a season for the next 2 seasons. Boedker has never scored more than 20 goals in a single season, and has only surpassed 40 points once in his career. He isn’t a bad player by any means, but both being in their primes at 28 years old, Hoffman is clearly the better player out of the two. Oh ya, and while the Senators got a 6th round pick, the Sharks got a 5th. Not a huge difference, but it’s still a higher pick.
The Sharks absolutely won this trade, but I mean, maybe that was the most they could have gotten for Hoffman right now. With all the controversy around his girlfriend’s cyber attacks on Karlsson’s wife, his value must have really dropped. So maybe a decent prospect and a top 9 winger, plus 1.1 million dollars of cap space was the most the Senators could have gotten for Hoffman.
Ya…. nope.
Just a couple hours later the San Jose Sharks traded Hoffman to the Florida Panthers in a deal that went as follows:
To San Jose:
2018 4th round pick
2018 5th round pick
2019 2nd round pick
To Florida:
Mike Hoffman
2018 7th round pick
It’s not written in the trade detail, but cap space should also be mentioned in what the Sharks got. They got creative and ended up getting rid of 4 million dollars for the next 2 seasons without having to retain any of it. They also picked up a 2nd round draft pick, some later round picks and prospect Cody Donaghey. You can never have enough draft picks and the cap space will help them be even bigger players in the John Tavares sweep-steaks. Today was a big win for the San Jose Sharks.
The Florida Panthers ended up with the best player in all of this with Mike Hoffman. The Panthers have been looking for a top 6 winger to add to their team for a while and Hoffman is clearly the cheapest top 6 winger on the market at the moment because of everything that has happened in the past week or so. The Panthers weren’t super far out of a playoff spot last year, and a top 6 forward might be what the Panthers need to grab a hold of a wildcard spot next season. As long as this doesn’t create a problem in the dressing room, the panthers should consider today a win for getting a top 6 forward who is 28 years old for only a 2nd, 4th and a 5th.
Then there is the Senators, who did not have a great day (getting tired of saying that). They got a decent prospect who might become and NHL defensemen, but nothing super special. They also took on a player with a bad contract for 2 more years, and at 28 he most likely isn’t going to get much better. I find it hard to believe that the Panthers didn’t offer to the Senators what they gave to the Sharks, and that would honestly be a better return for the Sens. A 2nd round pick is always good for rebuilding teams, and they would have cleared up 5.1 million dollars of cap space, instead of just 1.1 million dollars. That additional 4 million dollar of cap space could have really helped with free agency or possible future trades. If the Senators got that offer from the Panthers and didn’t take it just because they were in the same division, the Sens haven’t really thought it through. Hoffman’s value has never been lower than it is right now, and when that is the case with such a skilled player like Hoffman, they can’t afford to be passing on the best offer just because they are in the same division. Not saying that was the case, but if it was the Sens learned their lesson once again. They were the big losers today.
Also, Avalanche fans should keep an eye on the Sens this week. If they continue to demolish this team, and trade away Karlsson and other players, this team might be on track to finish much worse next year. Ottawa has to give the Avalanche their first round pick this year or next year, and they have 4th overall this year. It’s a great pick, but if they think they might have an even higher pick next year, they might give Colorado the 4th overall pick in this years draft. It’s a tough decision for the Senators, as they just can’t seem to get any good news lately.
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