As the hot stove continues to heat up across the NHL ahead of puck drop in January, the St. Louis Blues joined the fun on Sunday, signing forward Mike Hoffman to a professional tryout contract. Hoffman, a top free agent, spent 2019-20 with the Florida Panthers.
As per Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic St. Louis, a non-guaranteed deal allows the UFA to participate in all training camp activities, but does not create exclusive rights of negotiation. As such, he remains able to sign a contract with any team while on the PTO, which expires at the end of training camp.
Should St. Louis like what they see, they’re expected to offer the Kitchener native a one-year deal in the range of $3.5-$4.5 million. Signing him closer to puck drop, this would allow the team to maximize their cap space on the LTIR. As Rutherford noted on Sunday, the wait to give Hoffman a contract allows them to wait to place Alex Steen and Vladimir Tarasenko on the long-term injured reserve.
As per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the two players make for a combined cap hit of $13.25 million. Moving the two frees up some room on the hockey club’s payroll to be used for the veteran.
Speaking with The Athletic St. Louis upon signing the deal early Sunday evening, the longtime Ottawa Senator said, “I’m extremely thrilled to have the opportunity to possibly become a member of the St. Louis Blues. I’ve heard nothing but pleasant things about this team and organization. One of my top priorities coming into this summer as a UFA was to join a team that has a powerful ability to contend and win the Stanley Cup, as they just demonstrated a couple years ago.”
Now, as he signs with St. Louis, Hoffman joins an organization that currently projects to have no salary space available. Given the COVID-19 pandemic, Rutherford reports that Hoffman will arrive on Monday and do a seven-day quarantine before hitting the ice again. As such, the left-handed shooter will miss the first day of training camp on January 3rd.
Once cleared, he’ll join at Centene Community Ice Center, where he’ll have 10 days to prove his worth and learn the systems. Taking a look back on last season, Hoffman tallied 29 goals, which led the Florida Panthers, along with 30 assists. That made for 59 points, which the winger compiled in 69 games.
As per the official press release, Hoffman has scored 20 or more goals in six consecutive seasons between Ottawa and Florida. As well, he’s tallied 50 or more points in five consecutive seasons since 2015-16. For his career, the former Calder Cup Champion has scored 172 goals and 187 assists.
He’s done so in 493 games, thus putting up a total of 359 points. Hoffman joined the National Hockey League after having been chosen by the Ottawa Senators. He was selected in the draft’s fifth round (130th overall) back in 2009.
Assuming he makes his case with flying colours, Hoffman will be the second Blues player to wear No. 68 in franchise history; the other was Eric Nickulas. As per St. Louis Blues History, Hoffman is one of only 13 players to score 20 or more goals in each of the last six NHL seasons.
St. Louis begins their season on January 13th when they pay a visit to the Colorado Avalanche. With Hoffman the newest face to the franchise, the projected lines could look something like this:
Schwartz-Schenn-Thomas
Hoffman-O’Reilly-Perron
Sanford-Bozak-Blais
Clifford-Barbashev-Sundqvist