During a Tuesday segment on TSN in Canada, analyst Dave Poulin was asked to play matchmaker with NHL teams and a few of the remaining big-name, unsigned, unrestricted free agents.
Whither Mike Hoffman?
“I’m going to put him in Boston,” said Poulin, who spent parts of four seasons here (1990-93) as a veteran checking center. He said he would play him on the right side of David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk.
Hoffman would be a boost, given the Bruins’ secondary scoring distress. The 31-year-old ex-Panther has averaged 28 goals a year over the last five seasons. He was on pace for his second year of 35-plus when the league paused in March. A left shot who can play either side, he ranks 10th among wingers in goals over the last five seasons.
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Hoffman would be quite an insurance policy for two of the wingers ahead of him on that list, Brad Marchand (fourth) and David Pastrnak (sixth). Both are recovering from mid-September surgeries.
Marchand (sports hernia) is expected to be available in mid-January, possibly by the proposed, though not finalized, Jan. 13 start date of the season. Pastrnak (hip) is expected back in mid-February.
Hoffman is no two-way force like Marchand, nor a creative dynamo like Pastrnak, but he is certainly productive on the power play. Last year, only nine players had more power-play goals than Hoffman (11; Pastrnak led the league with 20). Only Alex Ovechkin had more man-advantage shot attempts than Hoffman’s 183. The players with more PPGs than Hoffman (58) over the last five years: Ovechkin (84), Steven Stamkos (61), and Pastrnak (60).
It would be interesting to see how Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy would use Hoffman on the power play, given that he typically lines up where Krejci and Marchand have, on the right flank. Hoffman was a first-unit fixture in Florida. He may not get that opportunity here, unless Cassidy wanted the right-shooting Pastrnak and Hoffman as twin gunners in the opposite circles. Goalies would cry foul at all those one-timers.
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In a depressed free agent market, Hoffman would surely take a haircut from his most recent deal, which cost $5.19 million against the salary cap. CapFriendly estimates the Bruins have about $2.98 million of available cap space. By shifting some money around (read: demotions to Providence) or moving someone out via trade, they could clear a little more.
But adding Hoffman seems unlikely for other reasons.
Primarily, the Bruins seem committed to giving Ondrej Kase a ride on the second line. Kase, who has had injury issues the last two seasons, never found his footing before the pause (one assist in six games, following the Feb. 21 trade from Anaheim) and missed an entire month of return-to-play camp because of COVID-19 protocol. He recorded four assists in 11 games in the Toronto bubble.
“He jumped in, didn’t have any of the round-robin games and actually played pretty really well against Carolina,” general manager Don Sweeney said in September. “Didn’t finish. Had the shot opportunities to score and in years past he has provided offensive scoring in those situations. So, we’re hopeful that he will find that.
“And again, [missing] 28 straight days, not an excuse, just a variable that we had to deal with,he had to deal with and did not fare as well against the Lightning (in the five-game, second-round loss). He did look fatigued in that situation and I think it caught up to him. Hopefully with the time now between when we get to play again, he’ll apply what he needs to.”
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The Bruins shipped a first-round pick and prospect Axel Andersson to the Ducks in part to dump three-quarters of David Backes’s contract ($1.5 million remains on the B’s cap this year), but also as a bet on Kase’s potential. The 24-year-old Czech product is the favorite to start the upcoming training camp as Krejci’s right winger. New arrival Craig Smith could be next up, potentially followed by Jack Studnicka. The Bruins have options, to be sure.
Adding Hoffman, unless the Bruins cleared more space, would seem to spell the end of Zdeno Chara’s time here. The longtime captain, his agent Matt Keator said Wednesday, has yet to say yes or no to a 23rd NHL season. Keator previously said Chara, 43, was waiting to see the 2020-21 framework before committing to a return.
With the Bruins’ back end unproven, particularly on the left side, it’s fair to wonder why the Bruins would think about loading up the forward corps, rather than make a play for defensive help. But beyond the star-studded top line, the Bruins of late have been short on finish, and Hoffman would address that.
Hoffman, a nine-year veteran who came up with Ottawa before landing in Florida, has only worn No. 68 in the NHL. Coincidence, perhaps, but No. 68 is now available in Boston: rookie Jack Studnicka changed his jersey number to No. 23, which he wore in the OHL and AHL.
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With players beginning to return to their home cities, the NHL and NHLPA are trying to wrap up the protocols for 2020-21. Time is running short if they want to start Jan. 13, the reported target date.
Many questions remain. What will the schedule look like? Will games be played in hub cities or home rinks?
How would a taxi squad work with the salary cap?
What would happen if and when someone tests positive? How would the NHL adjust if the COVID-19 situation spirals further out of control after the holidays?
Speaking on Wednesday via video conference as part of the World Hockey Forum in Moscow, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman provided few answers, other than that an 82-game season is out of the question.
“We are focused on starting at some point hopefully in mid-January,” Bettman said, according to NHL.com. “It is clear that we will not be playing an 82-game schedule for the regular season, which we normally do, but we’re going to try and play as many games as possible.”
He indicated that a full season of bubble hockey is not realistic. Players were not enthusiastic, to put it mildly, about spending their summers locked inside bubbles in Toronto and Edmonton (particularly the latter city, which had fewer dining and entertainment options, according to multiple players).
The NHL could have a mix of hubs and home rinks. Bettman said temporarily relocating some teams to smaller hubs, if they cannot play in their home rinks because of COVID-19-related restrictions, is a possibility. In the NFL, the San Francisco 49ers played a home game in Arizona, while the NBA’s Toronto Raptors have migrated to Tampa Bay for the season.
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“If enough teams can’t play, again, without fans, in their own facilities, then we may have to move more and more towards a hub,” Bettman said. “It may be that some teams are playing in other buildings. It may be that a whole group of teams have to play in other buildings.”
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Other new numbers this season: youngsters Trent Frederic (from No. 82 to No. 11) and Jeremy Lauzon (from No. 79 to No. 55) chose new sweaters, as did free agent signings Craig Smith (No. 22; he wore No. 15 in Nashville) and Greg McKegg (No. 18; he has worn a host of different digits) … Good line from Golden Knights winger Max Pacioretty, widely rumored to be on the move, via Justin Emerson of the Las Vegas Sun: “I played in Montreal for 10 years, so this is lightweight stuff.”
Matt Porter can be reached at matthew.porter@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter: @mattyports.