The trickiest part of the early summer for Pierre Dorion is the Mike Hoffman negotiation.
Last summer Hoffman was essentially told to "do it again" before he would get paid, in reference to his 27 goal season that led to his arbitration case, where he was awarded a fairly unsubstantial $2M.
Fast forward a year, and Hoffman "did it again". Twenty-nine goals, to once again lead the club in that category.
And while negotiations have been tight-lipped without much detail going public, it looks entirely possible that another round of arbitration will be filed for, but this time with Hoffman hitting unrestricted free agency after they year is out.
You have to think that the Senators can ill afford to just lose their top goal-scorer, and although a trade is possible, to get comparable value you are probably going to have to pay more.
So what is Hoffman's value, in terms of current comparables. It is sort of a waiting game because there hasn't been a restricted free agent with relatively similar skill set, numbers and age sign a contract yet this summer. You can look back at previous years, but it is a different marketplace than it was even last year so that isn't really a useful exercise either.
Andrew Shaw signed with Montreal for 6 years @ $3.9 per. He is younger so they didn't buy as many years of UFA as the Senators will likely have to do with Hoffman. He also doesn't have Hoffman's offensive upside.
Filip Forsberg is only 21, and he is more all-around skilled and has as much (and more) offensive potential, signed a 6 year deal at $6M per season with the Predators that will take him to age 27.
Casey Cizikas, the Islanders' 4th line centre, signed on in Brooklyn for 5 years @ $3.35M per season, at age 25.
When you have role players/agitators signing for $3-4M per year on long term deals, Hoffman has to be pretty confident that he will get his asking price or close to it this time around, whether it is on a 1 year deal in arbitration, or the Senators pony up and, as Teddy KGB said in Rounders, "Pay that man his money". (Actually it was John Malkovich with a bad Russian accent, but I digress).
The Senators can't afford to look cheap on this one, nor can they sit back and point to bringing in Phaneuf as an example of opening the pocketbook. Fans have heard for years that the plan is to spend on their own free agents rather than blow out their brains on the open market.
This is the chance to put their money where there mouths have been for the better part of this current decade. If that first digit happens to be a 5 or even a 6, and it locks him up for 4 or 5 years, so be it. Like it or not, goal scorers get that, and more, and are not easily replaced.
Or they could trade him for Adam Larsson (I kid, I kid).
Ottawa Senators Blogger • 
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