The further the Senators fall in the standings, the louder the trade reports get—and one name we keep hearing is forward Mike Hoffman.
Hoffman is, in many ways, an ideal trade target for many teams looking to add a little scoring down the stretch. The 28-year-old winger comes with two seasons left on his cap-friendly four-year, $20.75-million deal, and while he’s going through a slump now, he’s coming off three consecutive seasons scoring 25-plus goals.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman floated the idea of the Carolina Hurricanes or St. Louis Blues being possible trading partners for the Senators in his latest edition of 31 Thoughts earlier this week, and he elaborated on the topic during Saturday’s Headlines segment on Hockey Night in Canada.
“There’s been some linkage with Hoffman to the Blues and I think there is something to that,” he said.
If it’s prospects the Senators want, St. Louis has plenty.
“The Blues have a lot of really good forward prospects—there’s [Jordan] Kyrou, there’s [Robert] Thomas, there’s [Klim] Kostin, all at the world juniors; and there’s [Robby] Fabbri, out for the year (knee),” said Friedman. “I think the biggest key for St. Louis, Jay Bouwmeester‘s back tonight, as long as he stays healthy I think the Blues—whether it’s Ottawa, Hoffman, or somebody else—they’re going to do something, provided Bouwmeester stays healthy.”
Hoffman has nine goals and 15 assists for 24 points through 37 games this year.
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