Confirmed with Link: Hoffman Signs: 1 Year at $4M

[Bluesguru]

Exactly what I was hoping. Will they also have room to ad a veteran LD?

I agree. Wouldn’t mind acquiring another defensive minded defenseman.

 

[Mike Liut]

I agree. Wouldn’t mind acquiring another defensive minded defenseman.

I think Mikkola will be that person

 

[Robb_K]

That lineup looks so much better with Tarasenko in it. Without Tank, I just wonder if we’re heavy enough to play the way Berube expects.

This shortened season is only 4 months, and Tarasenko will miss the first part of it, and be knocking off a lot of rust, and not trusting his shoulder for some more of it. I just hope he'll be back to his old self during the last week or 2 of the season, and throughout the playoffs. Meantime, the team will need extra depth at forward and on defence, and in goal because of Covid-19 protocals. So, I'm hoping they'll not only add Hoffman, but also can keep Dunn, use Mikkola, and also have enough cap room left to also sign a veteran LD.

 

[bluesXwinXtheXcup]

Krug
Scandella
Dunn
Mikkola
Gunnarsson

Yeah, we need another LD

 

[Bluesguru]

This shortened season is only 4 months, and Tarasenko will miss the first part of it, and be knocking off a lot of rust, and not trusting his shoulder for some more of it. I just hope he'll be back to his old self during the last week or 2 of the season, and throughout the playoffs. Meantime, the team will need extra depth at forward and on defence, and in goal because of Covid-19 protocals. So, I'm hoping they'll not only add Hoffman, but also can keep Dunn, use Mikkola, and also have enough cap room left to also sign a veteran LD.

Yeah, still need a reliable back up goalie too. Gotta believe DA addresses this in the near future.

 

[Bluesguru]

Krug
Scandella
Dunn
Mikkola
Gunnarsson

Yeah, we need another LD

Krug and Dunn more offensive. Gunnarson spends more time on IR. So that leaves the proven Scandella and unproven Mikkola as the only defensive minded D men on your list. I like Mikkola and think he could be that guy but who knows for sure.

 

[Robb_K]

With Dunn too?

Because of Covid-19 protocal, they could lose 2 or 3 of them for a week or 2. But, I don't know if they'll have the cap room. Gunnarsson is hurt way too much to be counted on.

 

[Majorityof1]

Nice. Glad to see it. That helps alleviate one of my big concerns with the team, ie lacking a shoot-first goal-scorer with Tarasenko out. I'm still concerned about our D, but this is the best move that was available at this point. I do wish we could have leveraged the down market into a multi-year (3-4) discounted deal. But that may not have been possible. Kudos to Army. I don't even care what the AAV is on a one year deal, as long as it fits under the cap and aren't forced to trade Dunn or anything.

 

[kimzey59]

Exactly what I was hoping. Will they also have room to ad a veteran LD?

Don't see the need or how it would work.
Schwartz-ROR-Perron
Hoffman-Thomas-Schenn
Sanford-Bozak-Kyrou
Blais-Sunny-Barbs
Clifford, MacMac/DLR

Krug-Parayko
Scandella-Faulk
Dunn-Bortuzzo
Gunnar

Binny
Husso

Taxi squad- DLR/MacMac, Perunovich, Mikkola, Santini, Gillies
The goaltending trio is pretty obvious.
I think our defensive depth is pretty well set with Gunnar, Mikkola, Perunovich and Santini.
Only one spot left on the taxi squad and my hope would be that it goes to another forward(with the schedule this condensed I think we need more than just 1 fallback option). Odds are it either goes to Poganski or McKenzie or it gets left open for when Vladdy returns(outside chance at another PTO being brought in but I doubt it at this point).

 

[Majorityof1]

Strickland's twitter: "It is believed that the #stlblues and Hoffman have an understanding of what a one-year contract will look like. Once Steen/Tarasenko are placed on LTIR, and Dunn signed, they’ll be able to officially sign Mike Hoffman. Hearing Hoffman is taking less money to sign in St. Louis." (emphasis added)

Interesting that he took less money to be here. Maybe we have a shot to sign him ti an extension for a similarly discounted price if this works out. UFAs actually wanting to come here is a nice change of pace the past couple years. Great extra benefit of winning the cup.

 

[CaliforniaBlues310]

I really can’t wait to see the power play this year. PP1 is going to be super fun to watch, and PP2 should most definitely be a threat as well.


Unit 1-
Half wall/net front- Perron
Bumper- O’Reilly
Left circle- Hoffman
Right circle- Faulk
QB- Krug

Unit 2-
Half wall/net front- Schwartz
Bumper- Thomas
Left circle- Schenn
Right circle- Parayko
QB- Dunn


I have Krug with Faulk on the first unit, but that’s assuming they keep their solid chemistry that Torey mentioned from the World Championship days.


I’ll assume when Vladi’s back, it’ll be something like Schwartz/O’Reilly/Hoffman/Perron/Krug and Thomas/Schenn/Tarasenko/Faulk/Dunn

 

[TheDizee]

when is 91 due back exactly?

 

[CaliforniaBlues310]

when is 91 due back exactly?

Re-evaluated sometime in February. Would assume a week or so after he’s cleared he’ll play.

 

[simon IC]

I am not over the moon about this, as I am not a Hoffman fan. He does consistently provide scoring, but does not contribute in any other way. Having said that, I can't really fault this move. With Tarasenko out, we simply need the goals. It is a good move by Armstrong.

 

[shpongle falls]

Hoffman niiice. Now we got something cooking.

 

[Ranksu]

What happends to Dunn?

 

[Stealth JD]

Guess we’re going to be playing a bunch of 5-4 and 6-5 games. Our defensive game is going to be a struggle, but at least they’ve got the fire-power (if not the foot-speed) to score with anybody in the league. Should be entertaining if not 100% effective.

Let’s go Blues!

 

[Mike Liut]

What happends to Dunn?

I think we sign him in the next couple days

 

[Mike Liut]

I am not over the moon about this, as I am not a Hoffman fan. He does consistently provide scoring, but does not contribute in any other way. Having said that, I can't really fault this move. With Tarasenko out, we simply need the goals. It is a good move by Armstrong.

I agree, But it’s not Tarasenko is a defensive stalwart either.

 

[Stlblue50]

Perron-O'Reilly-Hoffman
Schwartz-Schenn-Tarasenko
Sanford-Thomas-Bozak
Clifford-Sundqvist-Barbashev

When healthy.

Wow with all of the Petro loss talk the Blues still have an extremely good team. With a healthy Tarasenko their forward group somehow got better and to me their forwards are the core of the team. They are filled with two way players that score by committee. If Binner can return to form then watch out!

 

[Brian39]

I'm not as pessimistic about our overall D as @Stealth JD is, but I agree that we should expect higher scoring games than last year. I'm not the biggest Hoffman fan in the world due to his off-puck play, but he is a great fit for a team that has a bunch of great off-puck forwards but few trigger-men.

Hoffman is a great shooter and his passing is probably a touch underrated. Over an 82 game season, you know he will get 20 goals, he is a near-lock for 25 and he has a decent shot at 30. He's also going to get you 30+ assists. He has to be heavily sheltered away from defensive responsibility, but we have the horses up front to do that effectively.

This is a very good addition given the current state of the lineup. We needed more firepower to outscore the expected additional goals against. We have re-structured the D with a greater emphasis on trading chances. This should allow us to cash in on those chances more often. I expect him to use this year to cash in somewhere else as a UFA, but that gives him a hell of a lot of incentive to light it up.

Edit: I didn't have much/any concern that the team would stop spending to the cap. However, it is good to see that ownership looks prepared to give Army the resources to compete this year. Doing this as a PTO and then the 1 year deal allows us to maximize LTIR relief. This suggests that Army has authority to spend as much money as we can fit under the cap this year.

 

[bleedblue1223]

We needed a "replacement" for Tarasenko, whether that means just in the short-term while he's out, or the long-term if he can't return to 30+ goal production. Hoffman is a great step in that process since we won't be locked into a long-term commitment, and if Tarasenko continues to struggle with his shoulder, we might have an inside track on Hoffman long-term if he works out, and long-term really just meaning another 2-3 years.

Sure, he has his flaws in terms of consistency and defensive play, but that's not all that different from Tarasenko. He'll give us some speed and scoring touch that we need. He's used to scoring with 17ish minutes, so it's not like we have to feed him opportunities either. Put him on the PP and shelter him during 5v5.

This now makes me pretty excited for the season. We again have the option to go with a top heavy top 6 or a balanced pair top 9 with Schenn/Schwartz and O'Reilly/Perron handling all-situations and Thomas/Hoffman handling offensive sheltered minutes.

 

[Chojin]

I'm surprised nobody has brought up the shenanigans with Hoffman's fiancee, but I guess that's a little less pressing now that Petro is gone. Anyway, it's (presumably) a decent signing, and it's not like he'd be hard to move if something goes awry or there's cap shenanigans down the line.

 

[Bluesnatic27]

I'm surprised nobody has brought up the shenanigans with Hoffman's fiancee, but I guess that's a little less pressing now that Petro is gone. Anyway, it's (presumably) a decent signing, and it's not like he'd be hard to move if something goes awry or there's cap shenanigans down the line.

That has been discussed and I think it's quite clear that the situation has been resolved.

At this point, there isn't anything that links Hoffman, nor his girlfriend, to the harassing messages.

 

[Stlblue50]

That has been discussed and I think it's quite clear that the situation has been resolved.

At this point, there isn't anything that links Hoffman, nor his girlfriend, to the harassing messages.

Plus that whole situation was mainly between Hoffman’s gf and Karlsson’s wife. Judging by the way Karlsson plays and conducts himself (post hand pass interview), I’m sure his wife is an angle.