On the Ottawa Senators …
Don Brennan of the Ottawa Sun: It’s looking like forward Mike Hoffman and defenseman Erik Karlsson could both be traded this offseason.
If GM Pierre Dorion doesn’t get a huge offer that he can’t turn down, he still plans on offering Karlsson a long-term extension offer on July 1st. It’s believed that Karlsson will reject that offer because of a low dollar amount or because of the direction of the team. The Senators would then have to move him.
The Vegas Golden Knights could take another run at Karlsson.
Sources are saying the Senators are shopping Hoffman and he’s expected to be moved between now and the draft. Hoffman has two years left on his deal at a $5.1875 million cap hit.
“It’s hard to get value for big contracts,” said one league executive. “The teams with no cap space will want to send dollars back, too. Lots of teams with cap space will try to get value on a player like that without giving up much.
“It all comes down to how many teams are interested and what demand can build.”
On the Vegas Golden Knights and Ottawa Senators …
Chris Nichols of FRS Hockey: Elliotte Friedman was on Sportsnet 960 and was talking about the Golden Knights, Senators and Erik Karlsson. Word is the Knights didn’t want to move Cody Glass in a Karlsson trade at the deadline. The Senators may be looking for something like Glass, a high draft pick, and maybe Colin Miller – something along those lines. The Golden Knights don’t have a first or third round pick in the 2018 and are still trying to build their prospect pool. The Golden Knights may now turn to pending UFA defenseman John Carlson.
Friedman continues on about the Senators and forwards Mike Hoffman and Mark Stone.
“The other one too is Hoffman. I do think there’s something going on there. Ottawa has two first-rounders this year and then they don’t have another pick until the fourth round, so I can see them trying to add that in. I think Hoffman could be a guy they would consider moving.
“The other thing is that they’ve got to sign Stone. And that’s going to be a big number. That guy is a heck of a player and they have to sort that out too.”