NHL Trade Grade: Ottawa Senators settle on a return for Mike Hoffman

The San Jose Sharks and Ottawa Senators decided to jump into the trade market seeing Mike Hoffman find a new home in a new conference.

With everything going on with the Ottawa Senators at the moment, the need for a trade was a massive understatement. The question was who goes first: Erik Karlsson, arguably the best player in franchise history, or Mike Hoffman. Draft week always brings out the best in the player transaction world of the NHL. Hoffman was the next ball to drop, as he got traded to the San Jose Sharks.

Again, if you’re privy to the news going on, it’s common knowledge that Ottawa had to make this move. Pierre Dorion lost a lot of leverage in the last few weeks, and the return for the trade is an indication of that.

The Sharks

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The San Jose Sharks are Hoffman’s new home for the next two years. The 28-year-old has been a 50-point guy for the last three seasons and generally hovers in the mid-to-late 20s range in goals. Hoffman brings a lot of speed to his game in combination with a quick release. He’s beaten goalies in tight areas for a large part of his career, and San Jose will benefit from having another offensive threat on their roster.

What Hoffman lacks is true defensive awareness at times which could be covered up by whoever he plays with.

Odds are that he slots in on the second line with Logan Couture. Tomas Hertl is the left-winger there, but Hoffman could easily slide to the right.

The Sharks also added some youth with defenseman Cody Donaghey. He doesn’t have much experience in the upper heights of the professional world spending most of his season in the ECHL playing for the Brampton Beast. You could consider Donaghey a simple throw-in, but perhaps he finds his way onto San Jose’s American league team.

This is a good deal for San Jose who has been slowly adding more offense to its roster. Evander Kane benefited from the transition and is locked in for another seven years. Goals may come a lot easier for the Sharks in the 2018-19 season. Seeing as how the team improved without having to give up too much, you have to like this deal for San Jose.

Grade: B. San Jose was a middling hockey club as far as offense this season with 252 goals. That tally should go up with Hoffman in the fold. The fifth-round pick in 2020 is a small bonus.

The Sens

Have you ever heard the concept of a justifiable fleece? When the possibility of Hoffman being moved appeared around the trade deadline, some proposals had teams giving up a first, top prospect, and other small pieces. To say that Ottawa gave him up for 50 cents on the dollar is an understatement, but again, you can understand why.

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The Senators added Mikkel Boedker, Julius Bergman, and a sixth-round pick in 2020. Golf claps.

Boedker is a fine player, but not as devastating as Hoffman. He’s been an average contributor in his two seasons in San Jose scoring 10 and 15 goals respectively. It’s consistency that is the evil force behind Boedker’s woes. He does bring a lot of speed to a roster, but defensively, opponents get more shots directed towards his net when he’s on the ice.

His usage this season was interesting. According to hockey-reference.com, Boedker saw 52.3 percent of his starts take place in the defensive zone. That hasn’t happened since his rookie season in Phoenix (prior to the name change) as he’s usually an offensive zone starter. The increased responsibility may have benefitted his overall play, but it’s tough to gauge.

Boedker also hasn’t been getting top-six minutes in San Jose. He saw 13:21 on average this season, a full minute decrease from the year before. However, it’s tough to see him start on the first line beside Matt Duchene.

Bergman, ironically, is the standout of the trade. The Sharks took him in the second-round of the 2014 draft. He’s played the last three seasons with the Barracudas and may possibly be ready to take the next step. Bergman displays great vision and skating ability on the blueline. The 22-year-old can also put up points as he set a career-high in goals with 10 in 65 games.

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Grade: C-. Whether it’s justifiable or not, the Sens were fleeced. Dorion got what he could and Bergman may eventually be the silver lining of the trade in the future. But it’s near close to impossible to consider winners coming out of this move.