Sorry to get the hopes up, but the contract that everyone wants to see will be a little longer in coming, that of Mike Hoffman.
Breaking: The Senators also came to terms Wednesday with defenseman Freddie Claesson, to a 1 year, 2 way deal worth $700K/100K. A little surprising that it wasn't a 1 way deal for a guy who has bided his time but it does give the Senators some flexibility if Thomas Chabot does indeed step up and take a spot in training camp.
Now back to what I wrote earlier......
As expected, and as well he should, Hoffman was one of 24 NHLers to file for Salary Arbitration before yesterday's 5PM deadline.
The two sides can and will negotiate prior to the hearing that will be scheduled between July 20th and August 5th. At least there is an official end point, even if there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding what will happen and a lot of if's.
The Sens did take care of one piece of business yesterday, signing arbitration eligible free agent Ryan Dzingel to a 1 year, 2 way contract worth $750,000 at the NHL and 10% or so of that at the AHL level.
Dzingel will be in the battle for a couple of open spots in the Senators' bottom 6 in training camp.
The Senators will also be working on contract extensions for Cody Ceci, Matt Puempel and Freddie Claesson, hopefully sooner rather than later.
There seemed to be a bit of dismay among the fan base that Hoffman filed for arbitration, but it is simply a part of the business and something that should expedite the process to a quicker resolution now that there is a definitive finish line.
Hoffman will be the talk for most of the next month, or until he signs a long term extension, because let's face it, at this point of the summer there isn't much else to talk about.