Mike Hoffman and the Ottawa Senators reached a $2 million one-year deal after going through arbitration. Here are five reasons to be excited about the Senators’ sophomore sniper.
1) He scores goals, lots of goals. Mike Hoffman found the back of the net 27 times last season making him Ottawa’s leading goal scorer. He managed the fourth most shots on the Senators, putting the puck on net 199 times giving him a shooting percentage of 13.6%. He also went 4 for 4 in the Ottawa Senators skills competition shooting accuracy event.
While Mike Hoffman wasn’t playing against the best defenders on opposing teams, there are signs that he could emerge as an elite goal scorer at the NHL level. Hoffman scored 1.41 goals per 60 minutes played, putting him behind proven snipers like Steven Stamkos (1.62), Tyler Seguin (1.60), Max Pacioretty (1.43) and ahead of players like John Tavares (1.35), Joe Pavelski (1.35), Filip Forsberg (1.10), and Sidney Crosby (1.09). Hoffman also finished 29th in the league with 10.39 shots on goal per 60 minutes played. Hoffman likes to shoot and score goals.
2) Hoffman is fast. I mean, really fast. Speed in an invaluable asset in the NHL and teams are always looking to get faster. Hoffman won the fastest skater competition during the 2014 AHL All-Star Classic, the 2014 Ottawa Senators skills competition, and finished second to Jonathan Drouin during 2015 NHL All-Star skills competition after catching an edge during his final turn.
3) At $2 million for the upcoming season, Mike Hoffman is coming in at an incredible value for the Senators with little financial risk. If he can reproduce his numbers from last year and prove he’s a legitimate NHL sniper, he will earn himself a big payday at the end of this contract and give Ottawa fans plenty of reasons to cheer.
4) At 25 years old, Mike Hoffman is young, full of potential and still needs to prove himself. Should Hoffman continue to score goals like he did last year during his rookie season, and then he could very well be in the league for another 8-10 years.
5) Hoffman is a great sleeper pick for your NHL fantasy league team. While being the #1 rookie goal scorer last season; much of the media fanfare resided around other NHL rookies such as Aaron Ekblad, John Gaudreau, Filip Forsberg and Mark Stone. That left Hoffman just under the radar. If you’re still searching for goal scoring ability after the first few rounds and Mike Hoffman is still available, pick him up. He could reasonably score 25 goals this season and maybe surpass 50 points.
Next: Did Hoffman Get Contract He Deserved?