Blues get deal on sniper Hoffman
Hoffman says one-year deal with St. Louis gives him best shot at winning Stanley Cup
Mike Hoffman is part of a rather tricky and remarkable trivia question. He's one of only seven players who have scored at least 22 goals in each of the last six NHL seasons.
Yes, just seven.
Hoffman isn't making the same kind of coin as the other six, but at least now he has a valid contract for the upcoming season.
As expected, the 31-year-old has signed a one-year deal worth US$4 million with the St. Louis Blues, who have had him in camp since Dec. 27 while they worked to get under the salary cap before Wednesday's season opener.
Of the teams that were interested in him, Hoffman said the Blues presented him the best chance to win the Stanley Cup.
“I think that's what all of us players want,” Hoffman said last week.
“You want to win.”
Hoffman had 59 points in 69 games with Florida in 2019-20, but he's much less of a passer than a pure goal scorer.
The other six snipers with 22 or more in the last half dozen seasons, and their rounded off cap hit in 2020-21 are: John Tavares ($11 million), Patrick Kane ($10.5 million), Alex Ovechkin ($9.5 million), the injured Nikita Kucherov ($9.5 million), Sean Monahan ($6.4 million) and Brad Marchand ($6.1 million).
In St. Louis, Hoffman is currently the right winger on the second line, alongside Robert Thomas and Jaden Schwartz. He's also playing the point on the first power play unit beside Torey Krug, and with Brayden Schenn, Ryan O'reilly and David Perron.
In other words, Hoffman is in good position to keep scoring — while trying not to be the answer to the trivia question: “Which elite sniper makes considerably less than six of his peers?”
LINE CHANGES: Marco Rossi is starting his NHL career on the shelf. Picked ninth overall in the 2020 entry draft by the Minnesota Wild, the former Ottawa
67's star is out indefinitely with an upper-body injury. “They tell me he's unavailable,” said Wild coach Dean Evason. The 19-year old Rossi was in quarantine after representing his native Austria at the world junior championship … New York Rangers star Mika Zibanejad practised on Monday for the first time since testing positive for COVID-19 prior to camp. That at least gives him a chance to play in Thursday's opener against the New York Islanders … The Habs raised some highbrows by keeping D Victor Mete on their 21-man roster and placing Corey Perry on waivers. The 35year old Perry should get a shot with another playoff contender … Montreal also waived Michael Frolik, who like Perry, was a veteran signed by the team in December … Waived by Montreal, D Noah Juulsen has been claimed by the Florida Panthers. Juulsen was the Habs' first pick (26th overall) in 2015 … Max Lajoie, Christian Jaros, Rudolfs Balcers and Filip Chlapik are among the once-promising prospects waived by Ottawa in the last two days … Other notables who were waived as teams try to get to the roster limit by Tuesday's 5 p.m. deadline include: Loui Eriksson ( Vancouver), Sven Baertschi ( Vancouver), Mathieu Perreault ( Winnipeg), Luke Schenn (Tampa), Fredrik Claesson (San Jose), Andrew Ladd (Islanders), Nathan Gerbe (Columbus), Zac Rinaldo (Calgary) and Frederik Gauthier (Arizona).
CONNECTING THE DOTS: The numbers appear to be adding up against 39-year old former Ottawa G Craig Anderson, who has slipped to third-string status in Washington. Coach Peter Laviolette has named Illya Samsonov and Vitek Vanecek the Capitals' No. 1 and No. 2 puck stoppers. “These are two young goalies who need an opportunity,” said Laviolette. “Now they'll get a chance to show what they can do.” … The Devils have signed Jesper Bratt to a two-year, Us$5.5-million deal. The 22-year-old had a career high 16 goals with New Jersey last season … The Devils could be without former first pick Nico Hischier for Thursday's season opener against Boston. Hischier is dealing with a foot injury …. The Blue Jackets placed Gus Nyqvist on IR Monday. He's expected to be sidelined five to six months from his Nov. 3 shoulder surgery, which means they're hoping to get him back for the playoffs. Nyqvist was second in team scoring last season with 42 points in 70 games … The NHL has announced two outdoor games will be played this season — Colorado-vegas on Feb. 20 and Philadelphia-boston on Feb. 21.