Five to six teams with a serious interest in Hoffman
Adam Vingan of The Athletic; Mike Hoffman‘s agent, Robert Hooper, said that 13 teams have shown in Hoffman, with five or six showing serious interest. Hoffman adds the flat salary cap has handcuffed some teams.
“I think teams are a little paralyzed at this point in time by the flat cap,” Hooper said. “I think some of the teams that would love to add Mike Hoffman to their roster have had difficulty moving pieces around in order to make room for a guy like Mike. The feedback on him has been very positive. It’s just a matter of making it fit.”
Hooper adds that there isn’t pressure to get a deal done immediately and that they would consider a one-year contract and test free agency again next offseason.
“There’s no issues on a one-year deal,” Hooper said. “Obviously, if you’re going to take a one-year deal, you want to put yourself in a good situation, because you’re going to be back in the market next year again.”
The Columbus Blue Jackets, Boston Bruins, and Nashville Predators missed out on Taylor Hall and Hoffman could be a Plan B for them. The Florida Panthers haven’t ruled out bringing him back.
A one-year could be somewhere between $5 and $8 million.
Strome extension in the early stages … Blackhawks continue to look at the trade market
Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago: Dylan Strome has a qualifying offer from the Chicago Blackhawks that he hasn’t signed yet. They are hoping to get him signed to an extension.
“We’re still in the early stages of that,” Bowman said Tuesday on the Blackhawks Talk Podcast. “The contract for Dylan is not finalized yet. We’ve had discussions probably in the early going, but I think I would anticipate we’re going to get that done.”
Once they get Strome locked up, most of their ‘heavy-lifting’ will be done. GM Stan Bowman said they are likely finished with free agency but maybe not the trade market.
“There’s still teams calling around, more trade discussions now,” Bowman said. “There are still some free agents on the market, but I think most teams are looking at their team maybe seeing, ‘would a trade make more sense?’ There’s certainly some concern league-wide with cap space. I know we’re in a pretty good spot from that perspective. There’s a handful of teams that have a lot of cap room and then there’s over half the league that’s right up against it, so they may be looking to move some pieces around.”