Sharks Trade Mike Hoffman To Panthers

Mike Hoffman The Key to Both Deals

The San Jose Sharks made news in the early hours of the morning today, swinging a deal for beleaguered Senators forward Mike Hoffman. The trade comes less than a week after serious allegations of harassment were levied against Hoffman’s fiancee, Monika Caryk, by Erik Karlsson and his wife. While nothing has been proven in court as of this writing, Melinda Karlsson has filed an order of protection against Caryk. The Hoffman’s have denied any wrongdoing, but it put the Senators in a major bind. Doug Wilson was able to exploit the situation, acquiring Hoffman for pennies on the dollar. In the following hours, Wilson would trade Hoffman to the Florida Panthers for draft picks.

Coming to the Sharks

2018 4th Round Pick (VGK)
2018 5th Round Pick
2019 2nd Round Pick
2020 5th Round Pick
Cody Donaghey D

The only player the sharks had retained when the dealing was complete was defenseman Cody Donaghey, 22, who appears to be a throw-in. However, the Sharks have a history of taking on minor league contracts in trades only to walk away from the player at the deal’s conclusion. Donaghey spent last season with the ECHL’s Brampton Beast, scoring 9 goals and 7 assists in 54 games.

Going to the Senators

Mikkel Boedker LW
Julius Bergman D
2020 6th Round Pick

Mikkel Boedker never worked out the way Doug Wilson had hoped he would when he signed him to a four year, 16 Million dollar deal in 2016.  Although he improved last year by adding 11 more points than the year prior to reach 37 points, Boedker simply never lived up to the expectations of the salary he had. In two years and 155 regular season games, Boedker scored 25 goals and 38 assists. In the playoffs, he scored 2 goals and 6 assists in 14 games.

Julius Bergman, 22, was the Sharks 2nd round pick (46th overall) in the 2014 NHL draft. He has yet to play a game in the NHL during 3 seasons with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda where Bergman  scored 16 goals, 45 assists, and 61 points. Bergman showed some improvement in the 2016-17 season on a very stacked Barracuda team, but last year was definitely a step back for him. At this point, I have my doubts that Bergman will ever play in a NHL game as he has been passed on the depth chart repeatedly.

Going to the Panthers

Mike Hoffman C/LW
2018 7th Round Pick

The off-ice allegations against the Hoffmans are, to put it bluntly, heinous. On the ice, though Mike Hoffman is a hell of a hockey player who would have demanded a king’s ransom under normal circumstances. After a breakout season in 2014-15 where he scored 48 points, he has scored at least 56 points in the seasons that have followed. He was also a key piece of the Pittsburgh Penguins Stanley Cup in 2017, scoring 6 goals and 5 assists in 19 games. The Sharks increased their salary cap total by just over 1 million dollars in the trade. Hoffman, 28, has two years left on his deal that sees him make $5,187,500.

Mike Hoffman Tribute Video

BREAKING: #SJSharks release Mike Hoffman tribute video. pic.twitter.com/DMKKDDzTrn

— Teal Town USA (@TealTownUSA) June 19, 2018

Overall Thoughts

This series of trades was a huge win for the San Jose Sharks. While Hoffman would have definitely added to the Sharks offensive punch, Doug Wilson clearly has a bigger fish in mind. The Sharks seem to always come up when players like John Tavaras are mentioned and have also spoken to players like Ilya Kovalchuk. With the cap expected to rise to $80 M this offseason, the Sharks will now have roughly $16.5 M to make a splash in free agency as well as re-sign their restricted free agents that include Tomas Hertl. Getting out from Boedker’s contract, without taking on a bad contract or financial penalty, is also a huge win for the Sharks. They also got a better return for Hoffman than the Senators did which is quite the coup for Doug Wilson.

With the draft coming this weekend, and Free Agency to quickly follow, this may be one of the most exciting times to be a Sharks fan in recent history.