Montreal Canadiens: Three Realistic, Potential Mike Hoffman Trades

The Montreal Canadiens have been quiet this offseason and appear to be into losing players more than adding in free agency. The team has not signed a single player that will be an NHL regular next season, unless Lias Andersson is far better in training camp than ever before.

Instead, they have opted to be patient and add a few depth players like Andersson as well as Phillip Maillet and Brady Keeper to add some talent to the Laval Rocket lineup next season. The Habs lineup did add Alex Newhook via trade a few days before free agency began, but he is the only true newcomer for the Canadiens so far this offseason.

The team even moved out a veteran when they traded defenseman Joel Edmundson to the Washington Capitals for third and seventh round draft picks in 2024. That opened up some room for younger NHL ready defensemen on the blue line, but hasn’t freed up the logjam up front.

When Newhook signs, the team will have 16 players who have proven to be NHL talents at forward. That is simply too many and they will look to move someone out, like they did with Edmundson, before the puck drops on the 2023-24 season.

The most likely candidate would be Mike Hoffman. He doesn’t really fit into the lineup and definitely does not fit into the long term plan in Montreal. He has one year left on his contract with a $4.5 million cap hit and will not be re-signing with the Canadiens. The team would love to have his roster spot freed up for a younger winger like Jesse Ylonen or Rafael Harvey-Pinard.

Hoffman has not become a fan favorite in his two seasons with the Canadiens, but he has scored 29 goals and 69 points in 134 games over two seasons in Montreal. That is an average of 18 goals and 42 points per 82 games which is below what he did before arriving in Montreal, but also not nearly as bad as many fans would have you believe.

With one year left on his contract, it is not impossible to see him moved for a small return. A team looking to add some scoring to the middle of their lineup could land Hoffman and expect him to score 20 goals and 45 points with the right linemates.

Who could realistically be looking to acquire Hoffman from the Canadiens? Let’s take a look at three potential landing spots.

Arizona Coyotes

When you have a cap problem, who ya gonna call? Gostisbehere’s acquiring team. The Montreal Canadiens don’t really have a cap problem, more of a numbers problem with too many forwards under contract and a desire to play the younger players more than the veterans.

But, when you have a contract you want to get rid of, the team you need to call is the Coyotes. The problem with dealing with Arizona is they usually want to get paid for taking your bad contract and don’t usually give anything up in return.

They acquired draft picks along with Shayne Gostisbehere, Zach Kassian among many others over the years. The Canadiens are not going to want to give anything up to get rid of Hoffman, but would the Coyotes consider taking him for next to nothing and then trying to flip him at the next trade deadline for a better return?

It is possible in a place like Arizona that Hoffman gets ice time with a skilled playmaker like Clayton Keller or Matias Macelli and scores at a 25 goal pace for most of the season. If he can do that, the Coyotes could possibly land a second or third round pick for him at the deadline from a contending team looking for a little more scoring depth.

Even if the Coyotes can’t trade Hoffman at the deadline, having his cap hit on the books make it easier to trade other players like Jason Zucker at the trade deadline for a bigger return since they won’t fall below the cap minimum.

The Canadiens certainly can’t ask for a second or third round pick right now. But if they really want to move out Hoffman to open a roster spot for a younger player, trading him to Arizona for a 6th round pick would be an option.

Nashville Predators

The Nashville Predators are a difficult team to try and figure out right now. They traded away Ryan Johansen for nothing and then surprisingly bought out Matt Duchene. This signalled a huge teardown and a bottoming out on the horizon.

Johansen had only 28 points in 55 games last season but had 63 points the previous season. Duchene scored 22 goals and 56 points in 71 games last season and had 43 goals and 86 points in 78 games the year before that. The Preds sent them both packing for nothing in return, while retaining $4 million on Johansen’s contract for two seasons and agreed to pay Duchene nearly $15 million over the next three seasons to not play in Nashville.

Pushing out a couple of veterans like that would usually signal either a desperate salary cap strapped team, which the Preds are not, or a team looking to tank. Which, apparently the Predators are not, either.

That’s because when free agency opened they went out and signed Ryan O’Reilly, Gustav Nyquist and Luke Schenn. That should basically cancel out the Johansen and Duchene departures and keep the Predators in the playoff race in a tough Central Division. There is no question they are going to struggle to score goals and could use some help in that department.

If the Canadiens were to retain 50% of Hoffman’s salary, he is just a $2.25 million cap hit. The Predators have three fourth round picks at the 2024 NHL Draft and it would make sense for them to move one for a veteran scorer like Hoffman if he comes with a $2.25 million cap hit for the season.

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