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Breaking: Hoffman inks 4-year extension worth $5.1875 AAV
TDS Staff via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Leave it to Elliotte Friedman to break the news and provide Senators fans with something to celebrate on a quiet Wednesday in July:
Hearing OTT signs Mike Hoffman to a four year deal. $3.8M next season, then three years at $5.65M
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) July 27, 2016
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I’m not going to lie, there were some days over the past two seasons when I truly believed that Mike Hoffman would not be an Ottawa Senator for the long haul.
Keep in mind that this is someone who a combined 56 goals across the last two seasons and has proven to be one of the game’s most prolific even strength scorers.
Looking at the last two seasons worth of data via HockeyAnalysis.com, of the skaters who played more than 2,000 five-on-five minutes, only five players had higher goals per sixty rates than Hoffman’s 1.17. The names above him — Vlad Tarasenko (1.28), Tyler Seguin (1.21), Patrick Kane (1.19), Corey Perry and Alex Ovechkin (both at 1.18) read like a who’s who of NHL elite goal scorers and Hoffman belongs in that same conversation.
Using the same criteria above, Hoffman’s the fifth-highest rated five-on-five producer. Averaging 2.37 points per sixty minutes of five-on-five ice time, only Vlad Tarasenko, Sidney Crosby, Jamie Benn and Patrick Kane have averaged more.
Yet despite this kind of production, it never really felt like the organization was that enamored with Hoffman.
From seeing his ascent up the lineup in Paul MacLean’s last days to being relegated to the depths of the lineup by Dave Cameron during Ottawa’s miraculous 2015 playoff run, it was hard to ever really feel comfortable believing that the Senators organization had bought into what Hoffman brought to the table.
Blown coverage, missed assignments and careless decisions with the puck inside the defensive zone often contributed to Hoffman being benched or receiving a diminished role under Cameron and in each of the past two years, the organization went out of its way to play up the fact that Hoffman’s scoring had a tendency to dry up when the games became more important.
Rather than focus on the vitally important things that Hoffman does well like driving shot volume and goal production, the organization and the media poked holes in his game, explaining the risks in giving Hoffman a long-term deal.
As a small market club that had been burned in the past by giving out term to undeserving players who rode the coattails of Ottawa’s skilled guys, maybe the organization felt obligated to get a deal that it wouldn’t regret.
Today, they got the right deal.
Sure, I suppose some can make the argument that because Hoffman asked for $3.4-million in arbitration last summer that some balance for compromise should have existed with the Senators offering him a long-term deal that carried a slightly higher average annual value than what Hoffman’s representatives filed with the arbitrator.
At the same time, there is the possibility that Hoffman was so confident in his ability to replicate last season’s numbers, he took the one-year deal out of arbitration knowing that a strong 2015-16 campaign would mean a larger payday down the road. In fact, in February of 2015, Hoffman even admitted to the Ottawa Sun‘s Don Brennan that he was not particularly interested in pursuing a long-term deal.
Without being privy to last summer’s contract negotiations, it’s impossible to know how far along discussions of a new long-term deal ever got between the two parties. Until either side really lets us in on how that process unfolded, it feels unfair to contrast the money involved now with the money that could have been saved had the organization signed Hoffman last summer.
Even if you feel that this did cost the Senators a little bit more money, here’s an affirmation that this is still a team-friendly deal:
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Given the circumstances and the fact that Hoffman’s camp had all of the leverage in these negotiations, I want to hug Pierre Dorion too.
Other Hoffman News and Notes:
Continue reading...
TDS Staff via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Leave it to Elliotte Friedman to break the news and provide Senators fans with something to celebrate on a quiet Wednesday in July:
Hearing OTT signs Mike Hoffman to a four year deal. $3.8M next season, then three years at $5.65M
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) July 27, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
I’m not going to lie, there were some days over the past two seasons when I truly believed that Mike Hoffman would not be an Ottawa Senator for the long haul.
Keep in mind that this is someone who a combined 56 goals across the last two seasons and has proven to be one of the game’s most prolific even strength scorers.
Looking at the last two seasons worth of data via HockeyAnalysis.com, of the skaters who played more than 2,000 five-on-five minutes, only five players had higher goals per sixty rates than Hoffman’s 1.17. The names above him — Vlad Tarasenko (1.28), Tyler Seguin (1.21), Patrick Kane (1.19), Corey Perry and Alex Ovechkin (both at 1.18) read like a who’s who of NHL elite goal scorers and Hoffman belongs in that same conversation.
Using the same criteria above, Hoffman’s the fifth-highest rated five-on-five producer. Averaging 2.37 points per sixty minutes of five-on-five ice time, only Vlad Tarasenko, Sidney Crosby, Jamie Benn and Patrick Kane have averaged more.
Yet despite this kind of production, it never really felt like the organization was that enamored with Hoffman.
From seeing his ascent up the lineup in Paul MacLean’s last days to being relegated to the depths of the lineup by Dave Cameron during Ottawa’s miraculous 2015 playoff run, it was hard to ever really feel comfortable believing that the Senators organization had bought into what Hoffman brought to the table.
Blown coverage, missed assignments and careless decisions with the puck inside the defensive zone often contributed to Hoffman being benched or receiving a diminished role under Cameron and in each of the past two years, the organization went out of its way to play up the fact that Hoffman’s scoring had a tendency to dry up when the games became more important.
Rather than focus on the vitally important things that Hoffman does well like driving shot volume and goal production, the organization and the media poked holes in his game, explaining the risks in giving Hoffman a long-term deal.
As a small market club that had been burned in the past by giving out term to undeserving players who rode the coattails of Ottawa’s skilled guys, maybe the organization felt obligated to get a deal that it wouldn’t regret.
Today, they got the right deal.
Sure, I suppose some can make the argument that because Hoffman asked for $3.4-million in arbitration last summer that some balance for compromise should have existed with the Senators offering him a long-term deal that carried a slightly higher average annual value than what Hoffman’s representatives filed with the arbitrator.
At the same time, there is the possibility that Hoffman was so confident in his ability to replicate last season’s numbers, he took the one-year deal out of arbitration knowing that a strong 2015-16 campaign would mean a larger payday down the road. In fact, in February of 2015, Hoffman even admitted to the Ottawa Sun‘s Don Brennan that he was not particularly interested in pursuing a long-term deal.
Without being privy to last summer’s contract negotiations, it’s impossible to know how far along discussions of a new long-term deal ever got between the two parties. Until either side really lets us in on how that process unfolded, it feels unfair to contrast the money involved now with the money that could have been saved had the organization signed Hoffman last summer.
Even if you feel that this did cost the Senators a little bit more money, here’s an affirmation that this is still a team-friendly deal:
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Given the circumstances and the fact that Hoffman’s camp had all of the leverage in these negotiations, I want to hug Pierre Dorion too.
Other Hoffman News and Notes:
- Hoffman will now be reunited with former junior coach Guy Boucher and provided that Hoffman’s even strength production rates continue to be strong, I’m curious to see how much Boucher and his power play expertise can boost Hoffman’s production further. To date, Hoffman hasn’t exactly put up the kind of power play numbers that are commensurate with his talents and skill set.
- According to the media’s conference call, Mike Hoffman’s contract comes with a ten-team no-trade clause that kicks in next summer.
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