After a cinderella run to the Stanley Cup Finals, Marc Bergevin and the Montreal Canadiens realized they needed more fire power to compete with the likes of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
With the loss of Corey Perry and Jesperi Kotkaniemi, winger Mike Hoffman was signed to a three year contract worth $13.5 million. Hoffman was supposed to be ready to go for the beginning of the season, but suffered a lower body injury and will be out of the lineup into late October.
When the 31-year-old Kitchener Ontario native does make his Canadiens debut, what can fans expect and where will he lineup? Lets take a closer look.
Hoffman has been a bit of a journeyman throughout his NHL career, but one thing has remained consistent and that is his ability to score. In his seven full seasons in the NHL, Hoffman has never failed to reached the 20 goal plateau except in the shortened 2020-21 campaign with the Blues. Hoffman posted a career-high 36 goals with the Panthers during the 2018-19 season, and will look to bring his offensive talent to a Canadiens team who is already deep on the wings.
The Habs’ newest winger has a reputation around the league for having one of the best releases in the game. Hoffman scores most of his goals on the power play from his signature spot at the top of circles on the left side. He has an ability to create space for himself to unleash his blistering one-timer. Expect more of this:
It has been noted that Hoffman is a defensive liability at times, but if he can be a reliable contributor on a Canadiens power play that has been subpar over the years, all will be forgiven. An ideal look for Hoffman on the power play would be across from Cole Caufield at the top of the face-off dot with Jeff Petry at the blue line acting as the distributer to the two snipers.
The dual threat of Caufield and Hoffman on the man advantage will give penalty killers fits and force them to pick their poison.
Dom Ducharme and co. have been revealing in training camp as to what the Canadiens forward lines would look like to start the season. Suzuki, Toffoli and Caufield remain together from last year’s playoff run, while Drouin, Dvorak and Anderson were seen as a trio. This leaves Hoffman to join a line with Jake Evans and Brendan Gallagher. This line could be very effective, as Gallagher and Evans would offset Hoffman’s defensive woes and would also be the puck retrievers leaving space and time for Hoffman to shoot.
Hoffman will be a power play weapon for the Canadiens and will no doubt inject much needed offence into Montreal’s lineup. Look for #68 to be an offensive force to be reckoned with when he is able to make his Canadiens’ debut.