With about six weeks to go until the NHL trade deadline, it’s clear that the rumours surrounding the Ottawa Senators are starting to heat up.
Despite a strong start to 2018, the Senators find themselves languishing at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings. At the same time, Eugene Melnyk’s Alumni Game comments about cutting player salary if attendance continues to lag continue to hang over the organization.
Put those two things together and it’s no surprise that the “For Sale” sign seems to be hanging in the window at the CTC. And for now, that sign refers to players and not the team itself.
For the past few weeks, the guy getting the most attention is forward Mike Hoffman. His name has been a fixture in the rumour mill this season and last week, respected insider Bob McKenzie went so far as to say it’s more like than not that Hoffman will be moved.
More likely than not. Not 100 per cent but well over 50 per cent: https://t.co/1zL0dPT050
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) January 11, 2018
Bruce Garrioch seemed to echo that sentiment in his Sunday column. And last week, Ken Warren suggested that Hoffman could be used as a trade chip in a deal for a young top four defenceman.
So it seems like everyone is mostly on the same page here. Mike Hoffman is very much available. And the folks at My Top Sportsbooks may even say he’s the most likely to be moved before the deadline.
And while it makes sense that teams would be targeting Hoffman- he’s a high-end goal scorer on a reasonable deal- it’s less clear why the Senators would actually consider moving him. Cost-cutting is one thing but moving Hoffman in a deal that doesn’t bring back an impact player, as in for picks and prospects, really doesn’t seem to mesh with what Ottawa should be trying to do.
In fact, making a move like that would be an early sign that this team might be looking more at a rebuild than a retool. And that seems like a huge miscalculation with negotiations with Karlsson, Stone and Duchene looming on the horizon.
If cost-cutting is the goal here then there are a handful of players (including Zack Smith, Jean Gabriel Pageau, Cody Ceci, Derick Brassard, Alex Burrows, Johnny Oduya, Nate Thompson) that make more sense than trading your best goal scorer. Obviously those players wouldn’t be in as high of demand though.
Or they could get creative and try to find a taker for Dion Phaneuf or Bobby Ryan. Although those moves would be next to impossible without either giving up picks/prospects or taking back some dreadful contracts in return.
So perhaps that’s why everything seems focused on Hoffman at this point.
What we know for certain is Pierre Dorion is taking plenty of calls on Mike Hoffman (St. Louis, San Jose and Florida are among the teams showing interest) and he is certainly willing to listen. Dorion mentioned that he had at least one concrete offer (believed to be Jordan Kyrou and a draft pick from St. Louis) but for now he’s holding out for something better.
Will certainly be something to keep an eye on leading up to the February 26th trade deadline.
-After being sent back down to Belleville during the bye week, Colin White is certainly making the most of his time down there. White notched his first multi-goal game of his pro career on Friday night and then followed that up with another goal in a 4-2 win over Hartford on Saturday night. Should be enough to earn him another call-up when the season starts again later this week.
Colin White scored 2 Goals and was named 2nd Star in Belleville’s 6-2 loss, snapping a 5 game #AHL pointless run 🚨⭐️ pic.twitter.com/dBMQY9pblc
— Sens Prospects (@SensProspects) January 13, 2018
