Seravalli: Bruins among the teams “most interested” in Mike Hoffman

We’ve certainly shared plenty of reports and rumblings, none of which has come to fruition. Don’t kill the messenger, but we’ve got another one!

Earlier this evening, Gino Reda, Darren Dreger, and Frank Seravalli had their regular “Insider Trading” segment on TSN.

One of the topics of conversation was how many free agents were finding themselves low-balled by teams around the league due to the global financial situation.

After that, Seravalli mentioned a guy who was holding firm in getting what he thinks he deserves: former Florida Panther Mike Hoffman.

From Seravalli:

“One player who’s held firm on his value and his belief is Mike Hoffman, who’s somewhere probably between $5.5 and $6.5 million on a one-year deal.

Hoffman, who will be 31 in November, is a left shot. He’s been a 25+ goal scorer in five of the last six seasons, and most recently recorded 29 goals in 69 games for Florida last season.

Hoffman’s high-water mark came during the 2018-2019 season, his first in Florida, when he scored 36 goals.

Servalli continued:

“He can be had on that one-year deal, and the teams that are most interested at this point...would be the Boston Bruins, the Columbus Blue Jackets, and also the Nashville Predators.”

As you’ve undoubtedly memorized by now, the Bruins have roughly $11 million in cap space, and still have guys like Jake DeBrusk, Matt Grzelcyk, and Zdeno Chara to re-sign.

Would you use half of that space to dedicate it to Mike Hoffman on a one-year deal? It seems risky, and seems like adding Hoffman at that price might mean moving on from Jake DeBrusk.

To me, that’d be a pretty shortsighted move.