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Ottawa Senators Sign Mike Hoffman to Long Term Contract

By Ian Smith

Dec 18, 2015; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN; The Ottawa Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson (65) celebrates with left wing Mike Hoffman (68) after scoring a goal in the third period against the San Jose Sharks at the Canadian Tire Centre. The Senators won 4-2. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 18, 2015; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN; The Ottawa Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson (65) celebrates with left wing Mike Hoffman (68) after scoring a goal in the third period against the San Jose Sharks at the Canadian Tire Centre. The Senators won 4-2. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Ottawa Senators have signed Mike Hoffman to a new contract, avoiding what would have been a 2nd consecutive year of arbitration.

The deal is for 4 years and worth about $21 million. That $5 million per season price tag is the going rate for players with the goal scoring prowess of Hoffman in this league.

Hoffman has lead the Senators in goals each of the past 2 seasons. He netted 27 in 2014-2015 and topped that total with 29 in 2015-2016.

His arbitration hearing was set for August 4th, and they avoided another awkward offseason of mixed signals regarding his worth to the franchise.

I’m actually surprised that they were able to avoid arbitration in some regards, just because there weren’t any hints of progress in the previous few days.

However, I’ve talked about how the Mika Zibanejad trade for Derick Brassard really made their payroll situation more flexible, and that a long term deal with Hoffman seemed far more likely after that transaction.

They obviously feel more comfortable paying Hoffman than they would have felt paying Zibanejad next offseason, and Hoffman had to have been optimistic that a deal was going to get done when they made a major trade that cleared cap space going forward.

I expect the Cody Ceci deal to get done soon as well. He’s expected to be asking for somewhere in the $4 million range.

With Hoffman getting about $5 million, it’s hard to imagine the team making as big of an investment in Ceci at this stage of his career, so that $4 million figure seems probable.

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It was speculated earlier in the offseason that the Senators had Hoffman in their long term plans based on who they picked as the new head coach.

Guy Boucher is a huge fan of his, having coached him on the Drummondville Voltigeurs of the QMJHL from 2007-2009.

I’d been arguing that this was a deal that the Senators had to make before arbitration, because the price tag wasn’t getting any lower than it is right now.

Hoffman looks poised for 35 goals next season, and he’d be wanting even more money than he was commanding now next offseason as an unrestricted free agent.

Increased productivity, combined with the bidding war that unrestricted free agency creates, painted a dim picture of Hoffman remaining with the Senators beyond next season, especially at a price they found reasonable.

This is a smart bet on a talented player, and if Hoffman takes that next step forward into the 33-37 goal range, the Senators will continue to get a good deal on a player who they’ve gotten a remarkable rate on for the past 2 seasons.

Regarding Ceci’s situation, Pierre Dorian made a bold statement. “I can assure you that Cody will be playing for us on October 12,” he said.

That eliminates the option of a trade, and is a reassuring sign that the two sides are getting closer to an agreement.

Ceci doesn’t have arbitration rights, so the likelihood of him entering next season on a multi-year deal seems probable if Dorion is really as confident as he implies.

Next: Ottawa Senators Have a Great Enforcer in Chris Neil

Ottawa made the best decision possible in this scenario. Hoffman hasn’t reached his ceiling yet, and the Senators can feel secure in the fact that they have a guy who could conceivably deliver 30 goals each of the next 4 seasons for them.

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