More than a week before the arbitration hearing was set to take place, the Senators and Mike Hoffman finally agreed to a long-term deal that will see the winger in Ottawa for the next 4 seasons.

And it pretty much came at a number that everyone expected and that most on the outside looking in thought was fair to both sides - 4 years, with an AAV of $5.1875. According to Generalfanager.com, Hoffman will make $3.8M this coming season, which would have been his last before becoming an unrestricted free agent. The Senators bought the first 3 years of UFA status and his salary jumps to $5.65M for the final 3 years of the deal.

So after much talk, some hand-wringing about whether or not the Senators were going to ante up and pay him what he deserved, GM Pierre Dorion got the contract signed at a number that is both manageable to the club and in line with most recent comparables.

And while the hand-wringing was unnecessary, and in the back of everyone's mind it was assumed that this day would come sooner or later, there was also that seed of doubt in the back of a lot of minds that this franchise would find some way to make a mess of things. Thankfully, that didn't happen.

Have a nice rest of the summer!


Just kidding.

Attention will now turn to Cody Ceci, who is also a restricted free agent without arbitration rights. You have to think that the signing of Danny DeKeyser yesterday by the Wings has Ceci salivating. Although DeKeyser is older and closer to UFA status, they have both been in the league about the same length of time (3 yrs vs 2.5) and both have pretty similar numbers. The difference is DeKeyser, had arbitration rights and that forced the deal rather than Ceci who is simply waiting for the offer, over which he has little leverage.

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