The Boston Bruins mustn’t pass on free agent winger Mike Hoffman.
The Boston Bruins are in need of a pure goal-scorer on the wing of center David Krejci on their second line. Free agent Mike Hoffman seems to be the perfect fit.
Hoffman has the ability to play either wing and also produce on the powerplay. The 30-year-old has put up six straight seasons of at least 22 goals and 48 points, including five of these with at least 25 goals and 55 points.
To go along with that, Hoffman hasn’t scored less than eight powerplay goals since his second full NHL season in 2014-15.
With Hoffman seemingly being a perfect fit for this team, why haven’t the Bruins pulled the trigger yet?
Why haven’t the Boston Bruins pulled the trigger on Mike Hoffman?
Unless you live under a rock, you know that the Boston Bruins are having some salary cap issues this offseason. They’ve had to make some tough decisions, including letting top defenseman Torey Krug walk.
With a little under $7 million in cap space left, the Bruins still have to make decisions regarding defenseman and captain Zdeno Chara and promising, young left wing Jake DeBrusk.
Chara has said he wants to stay with the Bruins. The 43-year-old has played the last two seasons on one-year deals, with the last one being fairly cheap having just a $2 million cap hit. It seems Chara would do the same for next year but the Bruins may not have the same interest.
DeBrusk is the biggest issue for the B’s. At just 23 years old, DeBrusk is a young left wing with a ton of potential. In each of his first three NHL seasons, he has registered at least 16 goals and 35 points.
However, being a restricted free agent, DeBrusk will be getting a new contract worth between $4 and $6 million. This leaves no cap space for Hoffman who will be getting around $6 million.
Either one will take up nearly the entire remainder of what the Bruins have left in cap space.
If the Bruins want to retain DeBrusk and also sign Hoffman, they’ll have to make some crazy moves as that’ll cost anywhere between $10 and $12 million in cap space.
We know the B’s want to unload the contracts of Nick Ritchie and John Moore, but both contracts together only add up to about $4.25 million — not nearly enough to afford both DeBrusk and Hoffman.
Unless the Bruins decide to unload one of their big contracts — like goalie Tuukka Rask’s $7 million cap hit — keeping DeBrusk and signing Hoffman is nearly impossible.
Personally, I think the Bruins are better off signing Hoffman and letting DeBrusk go via offer sheet or trading his rights. Hoffman’s consistent goal scoring gives the Bruins a better chance at winning games than DeBrusk inconsistent play.