Quoting: CapMean
Hoffman never played in Vegas... OTT, FLA and STL before joining the Habs.
As for Anaheim, Klingberg and his $7M likely won't even be there at the end of this season. Not saying they should pay to take Hoffman, but asking for a top 5 pick is ridiculous. They'll be around the cap floor for the next few years, so taking on Hoffman actually helps them get there and they could potentially retain 50% and flip him for an asset or two at the deadline before he hits UFA status.
Sorry, I got my teams confused, you are right, he was a training camp try-out for STL, I was thinking of FLA, (got VGS on the mind from another thread). But it illutsrates my "mercenary" view of him.
I see your point, Im just not sure Hoffman with 2 yrs at 4.5mil, coming off a bad year and looking for his 5th team, and almost 3rd in 3 yrs, gets back tons at deadline. As I said about Kerfoot in another thread, the buyer (a non-contender) would have to hope he stays healthy and stays productive on a poor team and then has to move him for more than they paid, so its just not a good investment.
And Hoffman, at his age, probably doesn;t get better, certainly not on a poor team and without top 6 minutes, and if hes not part of the rebuild, why would they give him top 6 minutes.
As for ANA and cap floor, theyve got RFAs who'll cash in and then go back to the UFA market to get the right players to fit the cap, I just dont think Hoffman is the right player.