Canadian team going after Mike Hoffman when free agency opens

Over the past four or five seasons, few players have been as consistent as Mike Hoffman when it comes to putting up points. The 31-year-old is not a league superstar, but before last season he had six in a row with 20 plus goals, including one with 36. Hoffman signed a one-year deal with St. Louis before 2020-21 began and continued his scoring ways, although his numbers did drop a bit. He recorded 17 goals and 36 points in 52 games. With free agency opening on July 28th and Hoffman hitting the market, expect a Canadian team to make a run at signing him.

"Expect Montreal to pick talks back up from last off-season with Mike Hoffman," said reporter Andy Strickland with Bally Sports. "Chose to sign with [St. Louis] over the [Montreal Canadiens] even tho Montreal offered close to a million more dollars. STL has expressed interest in bringing him back."

Hoffman could certainly add some scoring for the Habs, something the team desperately needs if it wants to go deep in the playoffs again in 2021-22. If defenceman Shea Weber is placed on LTIR, as is expected, and Carey Price misses some time or gets snagged by the Seattle Kraken in Wednesday's draft, the team will have plenty of money to work with. It looks like Phil Danault's money will be coming off of Montreal's books as well as he is not expected to re-sign with the team. Thomas Tatar will be hitting free agency, too.

Hoffman did go through some rocky times with the Blues last season, at one point being made a healthy scratch with head coach Craig Berube saying he just wanted more out of him on the ice. However, there's no indication that Hoffman can't bounce back. There very well may be more teams than just Montreal and St. Louis in the mix when the 28th rolls around.

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