Can the Habs afford to turn up their nose at Mike Hoffman

Forums/Armchair-GM

Page 1 of 1

Created by: jonh514

Team: 2023-24 Montreal Canadiens

Initial Creation Date: Jul. 31, 2023

Published: Jul. 31, 2023

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Description

A lot of Habs fans, myself included, talk about this guy like he's dirt. "He's so bad at hockey!" "Can't score anymore!" "Refuses to play defense!"... and so on.

I'll admit it, I'm not a fan. I have treated him as a cap dump for the better part of a year. But how about this for some perspective:

Of the 16 forwards who will be fighting it out for a roster spot this upcoming season, Hoffman ranks 4th in most goals scored over the past 2 seasons. I'll say it again, only 3 forwards have scored more than him the past 2 seasons: Caufield, Suzuki, and Anderson.

Said another way, on Goal Scoring and Goal Scoring alone, Mike is ahead of the likes of Dach, Newhook, Slafkovsky, RHP, Monahan, Dvorak, Gallagher and many others. I know some of these are loaded as RHP & Slaf were rookies. But still...

Why are we so quick to dismiss him? Did we forget that in order to win hockey games... you need to score goals? Are we walking away from him because:

1) We are convinced he is taking minutes away from a more deserving player who will score even more than he does given those minutes? Can't we just play him lower in the lineup?
2) We think being better defensively will be the difference between winning and losing? In the playoffs? Definitely! In the first half of the regular season? Debatable.
3) We think he is bad for the culture? Worse than burying out your 4th best scorer? What message are we sending, "we want you to score less"?

I dunno. Have we misjudged the guy? Maybe Mike needs better linemates like Dadonov found in Dallas? Please tell me why I'm wrong?

Buyouts

Karl Alzner: $833,333

Retained Salary Transactions

Joel Edmundson: $1,750,000 (50%)

Draft	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7
2024
2025
2026

ROSTER

LONG-TERM OUTLOOK

EMBED

TEXT-EMBED

ROSTER SIZE	SALARY CAP	CAP HIT	OVERAGES	BONUSES	CAP SPACE
25	$83,500,000	$75,359,166	$1,170,000	$4,210,000	$8,140,834

Left Wing	Centre	Right Wing
Caufield, Cole $7,850,000$7,850,000 LW, RW UFA - 8	Suzuki, Nick $7,875,000$7,875,000 C UFA - 7	Anderson, Josh $5,500,000$5,500,000 RW, LW M-NTC UFA - 4
Newhook, Alex $2,900,000$2,900,000 C, LW RFA - 4	Dach, Kirby $3,362,500$3,362,500 C, RW RFA - 3	Hoffman, Mike $4,500,000$4,500,000 LW UFA - 1
Slafkovsky, Juraj $950,000$950,000 ($3,500,000$4M) RW, LW RFA - 2	Monahan, Sean $1,985,000$1,985,000 ($15,000$15K) C, LW, RW UFA - 1	Evans, Jake $1,700,000$1,700,000 C UFA - 2
Harvey-Pinard, Rafaël $1,100,000$1,100,000 LW, RW RFA - 2	Dvorak, Christian $4,450,000$4,450,000 C M-NTC UFA - 2	Gallagher, Brendan $6,500,000$6,500,000 RW, LW M-NTC, NMC UFA - 4

Left Defense	Right Defense	Goaltender
Matheson, Michael $4,875,000$4,875,000 LD M-NTC UFA - 3	Barron, Justin $925,000$925,000 ($275,000$275K) RD RFA - 1	Allen, Jake $1,925,000$1,925,000 G M-NTC UFA - 2
Guhle, Kaiden $863,333$863,333 ($420,000$420K) LD/RD RFA - 2	Savard, David $3,500,000$3,500,000 RD UFA - 2	Montembeault, Samuel $1,000,000$1,000,000 G UFA - 1
Harris, Jordan $1,400,000$1,400,000 LD/RD RFA - 2	Kovacevic, Johnathan $766,667$766,667 RD UFA - 2
	Wideman, Chris $762,500$762,500 RD UFA - 1

Scratches	Injured Reserve (IR)	Long Term IR (LTIR)
Pezzetta, Michael $812,500$812,500 LW, RW UFA - 2	Xhekaj, Arber $828,333$828,333 LD/RD RFA - 1	Price, Carey $10,500,000$10,500,000 G NMC UFA - 3
Pitlick, Rem $1,100,000$1,100,000 LW, RW UFA - 1
Ylönen, Jesse $775,000$775,000 RW, LW RFA - 1
Armia, Joel $3,400,000$3,400,000 RW, LW UFA - 2

Jul. 31, 2023 at 6:36 p.m.

Leafsfan98

Leafs going to Leafs

Joined: Dec. 2022

Posts: 9,957

Likes: 3,009

EK65, I'll leave it at that

Jul. 31, 2023 at 7:13 p.m.

jonh514

Thread Starter

HuGo is a Boss GM

Joined: Dec. 2021

Posts: 7,012

Likes: 3,062

Quoting: Leafsfan98

EK65, I'll leave it at that

So we're condemning him because of an interpersonal issue his wife had with Mrs. Karlsson? That's ancient history at this point. Not one bad word spoken about her in 2 years in Montreal. If we can forgive a drug addict, a gambler, and an alcoholic, we can't forgive bullying?

Jul. 31, 2023 at 7:31 p.m.

Leafsfan98

Leafs going to Leafs

Joined: Dec. 2022

Posts: 9,957

Likes: 3,009

Quoting: jonh514

He refused to address it... Also, since when did solo issues become more important than cyberbullying and wishing death on unborn children?

Jul. 31, 2023 at 7:47 p.m.

ds16

Joined: Jun. 2021

Posts: 133

Likes: 33

I have done no research on this one, but I’m wondering how much different this would be if it were in goals per game. Feels weird to know he’s 4th in total goals though…

jonh514 liked this.

Jul. 31, 2023 at 8:31 p.m.

Ste_Catherine_Street

Joined: Jun. 2019

Posts: 1,694

Likes: 721

I don't know man, but I think your argument is flawed.
You're comparing his latest 2-year goalscoring history to players who have played less than 40 games in the NHL, and players that have been injured a lot the last 2 years. So let's not look at data alone.
Instead, I think it's important to watch how the team competes. And, I have to say he looks really bad on a competitive level.
For instance, if he's not playing right circle on the pp for his one-timer, he is a cone out there 5on4. His zone entries are so weak, he can't carry the puck at all over the blue.
And for a good skater, he seems very slow out there, especially skating towards the CH net.
For me, it's' more your #1 reason. It pains me to see him take time away from Slaf or RHP. I'd even love to see Heineman instead

jonh514 liked this.

Page 1 of 1

DISPLAY SETTING

BETTING ODDS

LOCALE

ARCHIVE

CBA

CALCULATORS

FANTASY HOCKEY TOOLS

TOOLS

PLAYERS

WESTERN CONFERENCE

EASTERN CONFERENCE

INTERACTIVE FEATURES

Forums/Armchair-GM