Sharks Acquire Mike Hoffman from Senators

Hoffman a Shark

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 from 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 her. 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.

Coming to the Sharks

Mike Hoffman C/LW
Cody Donaghey D
2020 5th Round Pick

The off-ice allegations against the Hoffman’s 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 their 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.

The Sharks also acquired defenceman Cody Donaghey in the trade. Donaghey, 22, appears to be a throw-in, 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 really 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 adding 11 more points than the year prior to 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. over 3 seasons with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda Bergman has scored 16 goals, 45 assists, and 61 points. Bergman showed some improvement in the 2016-17 season on a very stacked Barracuda team, last year was definitely a step back for him though. At this point, I have my doubts that Bergman will ever play an NHL game as he has been passed on the depth chart repeatedly.

Overall Thoughts

This trade is a clear win for the San Jose Sharks who got the best NHL player by a significant margin. The Sharks still have significant cap space to make another move as they continue their retool on the fly strategy. They will likely still be a factor in free agency. It will be interesting to see if Paul Martin will be bought out now that this deal is complete. You would have to imagine that Doug Wilson probably tried to use the leverage of Hoffman’s depleted value to try and offload Martin before moving on to Boedker. While the Sharks may not be the most likable team as they have been in years past they are certainly a better team today than they have been in some time.

UPDATE

The Sharks have moved Mike Hoffman and a 2018 7th round pick for a 2018 4th round pick (VGK), a 2018 5th round pick, and a 2019 2nd round pick. To Recap the Sharks cleared up Boedker’s $4 M in cap space leaving them with over $11.5 Million heading into free agency with in increase in the cap to be announced soon.