Carolina Hurricanes Free Agency Preview: Forwards

Mike Hoffman

With at least 20 goals in six straight seasons, Mike Hoffman is one of the more under the radar goal scorers in the entire league. Playing in Florida he might not get as much national attention as he would in a larger market but he enters free agency as the second-best forward potentially available.

With the highest points per game of any pending UFA, .86, Hoffman isn’t your typical one-dimensional sniper. With almost an equal number of goals (172) and assists (187) over his seven-year career he too is going to be looking for his last real payday.

This season, he has put up 59 points in 69 games. Of those 59 points, 21 of them have come on the man advantage. One of the most inconsistent parts of the Hurricanes game is the power play. To add someone who excels in this area certainly would be a huge boost.

Averaging just a tad under 17 minutes a night, he is a big part of the Panthers offense. Dale Tallon has been on record saying that Florida is going to be making a big shakeup to their roster this offseason. There was also some speculation that he could have been trading this past deadline, but they opted to hold on to him instead.

At 30 one big concern here would be how much term are you giving the player. We’ve seen in years past teams handing out massive deals on July 1st, only to regret them a year or two in. He is going to see a decline in production sooner rather than later, so a shorter-term deal would be a must for the Canes to be bidders here.

Another issue, although not necessarily the player but his girlfriend at the time, comes office. While in Ottawa, he and Erik Karlsson got into several disagreements and altercations that even lead to a court case. The tension continued to grow and negatively impacted their on-ice play, eventually resulting in his trade away from the Senators.

Having some familiarity with Trocheck already, he would be a nice short term addition to the second line if the price is right.