“Trading Mike Hoffman was something we needed to do.”
That’s what Ottawa Senators general manager Pierre Dorion said Thursday when speaking with reporters gathered in Dallas one day prior to the start of the 2018 NHL Draft.
Dorion sent Hoffman, along with Cody Donaghey and a 2020 fifth-round pick, to the San Jose Sharks earlier this week in exchange for Mikkel Boedker, Julius Bergman and a 2020 sixth-rounder. The move came not long after Hoffman’s fiancée was accused of harassing the wife of Senators captain Erik Karlsson.
“Our dressing room was broken,” Dorion said. “We have to have a dressing room that wants to win together. Key components for us moving forward are leadership, accountability and we’re very happy for the return we got for Mike Hoffman.
“We feel Mikkel Boedker is a good player. He had a great second half [of the 2017-18 campaign]. He was San Jose’s fifth-leading scorer in their two rounds in the playoffs. We know with the culture we’re aiming to get that he’s going to fit in in that dressing room.”
Dorion added that he reached out to Matt Duchene, a former teammate of Boedker’s when the two were in Colorado, to get an idea of the type of character Boedker can bring to a team.
“Matt’s words to us were ‘He’s a great guy. He’s perfect for our room and the culture that we’re trying to build,’” Dorion said.
Hoffman wasn’t a member of the Sharks for too long, as he was then shipped to the Florida Panthers for a handful of draft picks.
Panthers GM Dale Tallon said on a conference call that he isn’t worried about Hoffman having a negative impact on his team.
“I talked to some of our players [about acquiring Hoffman] I had no pushback at all,” Tallon said. “He played with [Jonathan] Huberdeau in Saint John. Our [hockey operations] staff, Chris Pronger and Bryan McCabe … they know a lot of people who know him. I trust my guys. I trust my staff.”
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