It became a reality just six days ago when allegations against Hoffman’s fiancee, Monika Caryk, were made public. Melinda Karlsson, the wife of Senators captain Erik Karlsson, filed an order of protection in Ottawa, cataloging what was described as an extended period of online harassment and cyber bullying. And while Hoffman and Caryk have since come out and categorically denied their involvement, as much was made clear by Hoffman’s agent Robert Hooper: these two parties could no longer coexist on the same team.
On Tuesday, the Senators did what everyone expected to do in practice (trade Hoffman) while coming to terms with the harsh reality of the circumstances surrounding this deal: Getting a market-value return for Hoffman was going to be near impossible.
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So general manager Pierre Dorion did perhaps as well as he could under the circumstances. At least, without the public knowing the scope of the offers Ottawa was receiving. The transaction can essentially be boiled down to Hoffman for Mikkel Boedker, while the other pieces evened out.
Then things turn a drastically more unexpected turn, with the Sharks flipping Hoffman to the Panthers for a series of draft picks. Each team had its own motivations in these two trades made in quick succession, and each had to pay for those subplots.
Senators receive from San Jose:
Forward Mikkel Boedker, defenseman Julius Bergman and a 2020 sixth-round draft pick
Sharks receive from Ottawa:
Forward Mike Hoffman, defenseman Cody Donaghey and a 2020 fifth-round draft pick
Panthers receive from San Jose:
Mike Hoffman and a 2018 seventh-round draft pick
Sharks receive from Florida:
2019 second-round pick, 2018 fourth-round pick and a 2018 fifth-round draft pick
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Sharks: A-
San Jose was in the market for a forward this offseason, already linked to the usual suspects like Ilya Kovalchuk and John Tavares. This comes a month after acquiring then-rental Evander Kane from the Sabres at a discounted rate, only to extend him seven years before he became an unrestricted free agent.
Knowing how close the Sharks were to getting over the hump this season, GM Doug Wilson took advantage of the blood in the water and poached Hoffman, a very good two-way forward, from Ottawa. Then Wilson immediately decided to flip Hoffman, putting the Sharks in position to go after both of those aforementioned quality forwards this offseason.
Looking at the totality of the moves, the Sharks moved out a good deal of salary cap out, shedding Boedker’s contract, which was set to pay him $4 million each of the next two seasons. And with that added room under the cap ceiling, the Sharks can aggressively pursue both Kovalchuk and Tavares, pitching each free agent to join what is already a very skilled top-six.
This is where things get interesting: On paper, the Sharks had the option to keep Hoffman and still recruit Tavares. And Hoffman, who has four consecutive 22-goal season under his belt, seems like more of a sure bet than Kovalchuk, 35, who has spent the past five years abroad in the KHL.
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But the team that was going to acquire Hoffman (because Hoffman was 100 percent going to be traded) was always going to have to come to terms with acquiring the very-obvious baggage he brings with him. Maybe Wilson and Co. were uncomfortable not knowing the results of a pending investigation into Hoffman and Caryk’s alleged role in the Karlsson drama. In that case, maybe Hoffman served as the means to an end, positioning the Sharks to be major players in different waters.
In his explanation of the trade sequence, Wilson made note of all the young players in San Jose’s system ready to jump in and take the next step. It would help explain coming out of this trade rodeo without Boedker or Hoffman.
But this leaves San Jose, a team that is very much in win-now mode on the heels of a second-round exit in the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs, to be major players across the board. Whether they make good use of the cap space created remains to be seen, but either way, Wilson just carved out his seat at the table and did so while acquiring a decent haul of draft picks. That’s nothing to laugh at.
Wilson moved fast, and dangled a player in front of Dorion who fits the needs of the Senators. In making the move, Ottawa rid itself of Hoffman from its roster, and thanks to Boedker’s front-loaded contract, will actually save a bit of money based on his salary owed ($3 million per) versus actually annual average value ($4 million per). That checked two major boxes for Ottawa, while Wilson plotted to quickly move Hoffman right back out.
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Panthers: B-
The Panthers were one of the best teams in the NHL down the stretch, completing a torrid run from January on that nearly catapulted them into the top eight in the Eastern Conference. They fell short of that mark, and one of their clear deficiencies was goal-scoring.
GM Dale Tallon just addressed that need, but at a price, and also with a bit of uncertainty attached to it.
In theory, the Senators and NHL will continue with their investigation into the allegations made by Melinda Karlsson, the results of which will obviously go a long way in shaping Hoffman’s off-ice reputation. There may also be something to be said about how a new locker room will accept Hoffman and, by extension, Caryk. Fair or unfair, if Caryk really was responsible for what was alleged, new teammates may judge Hoffman based on a guilty verdict.
Tallon said he reached out to several Panthers players about the fit and received “no pushback.”
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But in a best-case scenario (for team and player), Hoffman arrives in Florida and gets a clean slate. He instantly becomes the best winger on the roster. If he plays on a line with Aleksander Barkov, it has the makings of one of the top defensive units in all of hockey.
Those types of aren’t easy to acquire via trade in the NHL, unless of course the player in question finds himself in a situation like Hoffman’s. The Panthers are assuming a risk in that regard, but there likely isn’t a player of Hoffman’s quality coming in any of the draft slots Florida sent to San Jose. In that sense, it’s a calculated risk.
It is hard to just commend the Panthers and Dale Tallon for acquiring a player of this caliber though given what transpired in the expansion draft, when they so willingly gave away Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith. To forget that decision, which transpired less than a year ago, is all too convenient.
The Panthers are essentially filling a need that their own decision-making created. Even if the Panthers and Tallon had to be creative in how they acquired Hoffman, using the Sharks as the middle-man, the need for that type of player was self-imposed.
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Senators: C
It’s very difficult to give the Senators a failing grade, despite what this trade does to them from an on-ice perspective, solely based off the circumstances outlined.
“Today’s trade showcases our determination to strengthen the future of the team by improving chemistry, leadership and character in the locker room and on the ice,” Dorion said in the team’s release announcing the move. “We are confident it is a step in the right direction for the long-term success of this organization.”
Hoffman was as good as gone out of Ottawa. He could not be a member of the Senators moving forward. So even while he was such an attractive trade chip — with two years remaining on his current contract and loads of value to provide for any lineup — the Senators lost any upper hand in negotiations with a rival team.
This trade showed that.
The Senators deserve plenty of blame. Perhaps in the coming weeks we’ll learn more about the circumstances surrounding these allegations, and the role Hoffman and Caryk did or did not play in them. But as of right now, it’s hard to fault the Senators specifically for how this played out. Dorion was in an unwinnable position, but one that required immediate action. While the Senators decidedly look to be heading toward a rebuild, perhaps it would have made more sense philosophically for the return to be more future-minded — acquiring lower-round picks or a better package of prospects, versus what will ostensibly be a Hoffman replacement.
Again, though, it’s hard to sit at the poker table with your cards face-up and try to get the other players to fork over more chips. If Dorion did push for more, it would have been easy for a team to stand pat or threaten to walk away, with the Senators in a position to lose a lot more.
Had the Senators executed a Hoffman trade before any of these allegations became public, the return would have been immensely better. Had this incident never transpired, and the Senators probably aren’t even looking to trade Hoffman, unless they were truly taking on the mantra of a burn-it-down rebuild.
But these hypotheticals weren’t going to impact that the constraints put on any negotiation the Senators entered. They were never going to get fair value in a trade for Hoffman. In trading him, the Senators peeled away one layer of conflict, with many others still to go. But it’s a step, even one that makes them a worse team today.
