Confirmed Trade: [CAR/CBJ] Gregory Hofmann for 2022 7th round pick

stevo61

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Jul 5, 2011
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IIRC it was because the NHL didn't have a transfer agreement with the Swiss league at the time. I know his agent was trying to find a way to make it work but that got in his way if I'm not off in my memory.
Was it just management issue or was there any talk on what possibly soured Hofmann on Carolina? Seems like a weird situation for a player to go through so much when he likely could have gotten atleast a look at the NHL level
 
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M2Beezy

Objective and Neutral Hockey Commentator
May 25, 2014
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I thought Columbus wanted MORE picks? Why are they dumping them away now???
 
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DaveG

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Apr 7, 2003
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Was it just management issue or was there any talk on what possibly soured Hofmann on Carolina? Seems like a weird situation for a player to go through so much when he likely could have gotten atleast a look at the NHL level
Honestly no idea. The Canes were almost Melnyk cheap at times under Karmanos so may have simply been that he couldn't get a guaranteed AHL salary high enough to justify leaving the Swiss league when he was making a good chunk of cash there. They definitely looked at bringing him over a couple times though and as someone else mentioned he attended a couple camps here as well.
 
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stevo61

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Honestly no idea. The Canes were almost Melnyk cheap at times under Karmanos so may have simply been that he couldn't get a guaranteed AHL salary high enough to justify leaving the Swiss league when he was making a good chunk of cash there. They definitely looked at bringing him over a couple times though and as someone else mentioned he attended a couple camps here as well.
Really weird. Youd think a young guy would give up a few dollars to potentially make much more later on but maybe it was as simple as not being confident in his own abilities which could have cost him in the long run
 
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Viqsi

"that chick from Ohio"
Oct 5, 2007
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I'm mad as a Canes fan because this guy became somewhat of a meme. Every once in a while someone would say "what about the Greg Hoffman situation". I was that someone many times so now I will have nothing to say. This alone is worth more than a 7th in my heart.
We still every once in a blue moon get someone wondering about Sergei Mozyakin, so, yeah, I hear you.
 

DaveG

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I'm mad as a Canes fan because this guy became somewhat of a meme. Every once in a while someone would say "what about the Greg Hoffman situation". I was that someone many times so now I will have nothing to say. This alone is worth more than a 7th in my heart.
Greg Hoffman is Greg Hoffman, but the 7th round pick could be anything... it could even be another Greg Hofmann.
 

DaveG

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Really weird. Youd think a young guy would give up a few dollars to potentially make much more later on but maybe it was as simple as not being confident in his own abilities which could have cost him in the long run
Yeah I don't quite get it either. The guy can definitely skate his ass off from what I remember and he lit up the Swiss league on more than one occasion. One of them was thanks to playing with Thornton, but even away from him he was still relatively productive. Given the dearth of talent we had at the time (I mean Jiri Tlusty was our #1 LW for a couple years) you'd think he would be willing to take the chance, especially as at a certain point the ELC would have only been for one year.
 
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Kakko Schmakko

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Feb 24, 2018
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good move for both teams, but Columbus can really look good if he comes over and turns into a great NHLer. Weird that Carolina never signed him.
 

Mal Reynolds

never goes smooth, how come it never goes smooth?
Sep 28, 2008
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Looks like he's an old teammate of Elvis from their days with Lugano, perhaps that'll be a factor at play here?
 

BruinLVGA

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Dec 15, 2013
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Guy has a contract with a European team until 2023. The 7th rounder is almost irrelevant. I wonder if there's something bigger in the works? They aren't near the contract limit according to Capfriendly.

Re bolded... It is common practice for players in the Swiss league to have an NHL clause in their contracts. That is, if they agree to terms with an NHL team, they can bolt to North America, no problem.

EDIT: I also read in this thread that the NHL and the NLA signed some agreement re transferring players. That probably supersedes that.
 

BruinLVGA

CZ Shadow 2 Compact coming my way!
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Yeah I don't quite get it either. The guy can definitely skate his ass off from what I remember and he lit up the Swiss league on more than one occasion. One of them was thanks to playing with Thornton, but even away from him he was still relatively productive. Given the dearth of talent we had at the time (I mean Jiri Tlusty was our #1 LW for a couple years) you'd think he would be willing to take the chance, especially as at a certain point the ELC would have only been for one year.

Nah, his best seasons were way after playing in Davos with Thornton in that 12-13 lockout season.

He really took off in the 17-18 season in Lugano, where after his best regular season ever (it was his first time he went above 20 goals in a regular season), he had a monster playoffs where he scored 14 goals in 18 games played (21 points total).
In 18-19, he improved to 30 goals and 51 points in 50 games. In 19-20, he was almost ppg (47 points in 50 regular season games), and this season last I checked he has 16 g / 20 a in 32 games. Since 17-18, his ppg is much higher than that season with Thornton, getting closer to almost twice.

Hofmann is a goal scorer, that's his thing. One of the purest Swiss goal scorers I can remember.
 

stl76

No. 5 in your programs, No. 1 in your hearts
Jul 2, 2015
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Yeah I don't quite get it either. The guy can definitely skate his ass off from what I remember and he lit up the Swiss league on more than one occasion. One of them was thanks to playing with Thornton, but even away from him he was still relatively productive. Given the dearth of talent we had at the time (I mean Jiri Tlusty was our #1 LW for a couple years) you'd think he would be willing to take the chance, especially as at a certain point the ELC would have only been for one year.
Maybe he was happy and just liked playing in Switzerland. I mean, have you ever been to Switzerland? It's f***ing gorgeous, high standard of living, etc. Probably safe to assume since he was born/raised there that Hofmann has deep personal ties to the country including family, friends, and romantic relationships. Hofmann was (assumedly) making very good money playing there, but there's also more to life than money and Hockey.

I kind of love this move for CBJ. If Hofmann ever plays a game for them then it's a home run, if he doesn't then it's only a 7th. From what I've read about the guy, Hofmann does have legit NHL skills and size.

Don't hate it for CAR either, at least they get something for a guy that was clearly never going to play for them.
 

Larry Hanson

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Aug 1, 2020
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Interesting, I was under the impression that once a player hits 27 years old (as of June 30th) that they are an unrestricted free agent.
 

uncleben

Global Moderator
Dec 4, 2008
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Interesting, I was under the impression that once a player hits 27 years old (as of June 30th) that they are an unrestricted free agent.
Unless they are a "defected" player, in this case, drafted from a League without a transfer agreement and have yet to come over to North America
 

Johniac

Registered User
Jul 18, 2011
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I'm mad as a Canes fan because this guy became somewhat of a meme. Every once in a while someone would say "what about the Greg Hoffman situation". I was that someone many times so now I will have nothing to say. This alone is worth more than a 7th in my heart.

Maybe we can get you up to seven likes on this one?
 
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