Hoffman feels he found best fit, opportunity with Blues

Forward sees opportunity to win Stanley Cup in St. Louis again; teammates 

excited to have goal-scorer join in quest to win for second time in three years

By LOU KORAC
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- The moment the Blues found out they'd be adding a prolific goal scorer to their already balanced lineup, Ryan O'Reilly wouldn't hide the fact of his delight.

When the Blues signed Mike Hoffman to a professional tryout contract last week with the probability of signing for former Florida Panthers winger to a contract for the upcoming season once the Blues place Alexander Steen (back) and Vladimir Tarasenko (shoulder) on long-term injured-reserve, there seemed to be a buzz in the locker room.

(St. Louis Blues/Scott Rovak)

Mike Hoffman took part in the first day of on-ice training camp with the 

Blues, his first since signing a PTO to join the team.

"Right when we heard that, you could tell there was just excitement from everyone," O'Reilly said after the first day of on-ice training camp Monday at Centene Community Ice Center. "Just looking on paper and seeing the lines that we have, I'd put it up against any other team and it gives us confidence. We get an amazing player like he is, a guy that can score and put the puck in the back of the net, yeah, I think it's exciting not only for fans but as guys in the room, it gives us more belief that, 'Hey, we're going to give this another great chance.'"

It's exactly why Hoffman, an unrestricted free agent, decided to be patient in waiting for a contract and ultimately, go the PTO route, get himself into camp and wait for an opportunity to sign a contract with the Blues, which will come to fruition once they are able to free up Tarasenko's $7.5 million cap hit and Steen's $5.75 million.

"This year probably more than any season, you don't want to miss out on a training camp as shortened as it is and no exhibition games," Hoffman said. "If you did miss camp or fallen behind the Eight-Ball a little bit, especially with a shortened season, you want to get off and start off on  good foot. I think this was the best opportunity and the chance that I have.

"I knew St. Louis always had a good club and was kind of one of the teams on my radar coming into UFA. Anything could happen. There's different possibilities, but this was the one that we thought was the best fit and best opportunity."

Hoffman found a good fit with the Blues, a team that believes it's still in a window of winning now and on a squad that will utilize him in a top-six role.

"I think if you look at it, we're built to win right now and we're going to take another chance to win," Blues forward Brayden Schenn said. "When you add a piece like that, a guy that's able to score goals for us 5-on-5 and on the power play, I think he's just going to add to our forward group. It gives us combinations, it gives us options to be a deep team and I think he's going to be a good piece for us."

"It's no secret what he brings to the table, his skill level and elite shot, great power-play guy," Blues defenseman Torey Krug said of Hoffman. "It adds another weapon to this already deep forward group. Very exciting to see what these guys can do together on the ice and obviously once we do start to work on special teams to build that chemistry, get comfortable where guys want the puck and just build it up and see where this train can take us."

Blues general manager Doug Armstrong has been a Hoffman fan going back a few years, including 2018 when the Ottawa Senators were offering up Hoffman in a trade but also took another interest when Hoffman became a UFA once the Panthers' season ended.

"Talking to Mike, we started this obviously months ago when free agency started," Armstrong said. "A lot of conversations we've had with players is that contracts aren't deemed the value you have in the league, it's deemed the amount of cap space that teams have. Mike got into a situation where he wasn't comfortable with some of the offers that he had, so he was willing to look on  shorter-term deal or coming with us on a tryout. Obviously our plans are to get him signed. Then you start selling what you have and we believe the strength of our team is down the middle of the ice whether it's O'Reilly, Schenn, Thomas, [Tyler] Bozak and [Oskar] Sundqvist. Obviously today Craig [Berube] had Schenn on the wing, but he can always go back in the middle. I think when you're trying to sell a winger to come to your organization, you're trying to sell the ability to play with good players. Also I think the transition game we have on our backend right now is something that forwards want. I think we had the ability to sell what we have right now for a player like Mike."

Hoffman is coming off a season in which he had 59 points (29 goals, 30 assists) with the Panthers in 69 games, of which 21 points (11 goals) came on the power play.

Hoffman, 31, skated on his off-wing with Jaden Schwartz and Robert Thomas on the first day of practice.

(Getty Images)

Mike Hoffman scored 29 goals and had 59 points with the Florida

Panthers last season, hopes to add offense to the Blues this year.

"They're obviously both very good players. Thomas a little younger. He's very good with the puck and a very good passer and Schwartzy can do it all. He's a good two-way forward and can put the puck in the net and is good defensively as well. I think we could definitely contribute to each other and help each other out a lot."

Hoffman, who had a cap hit of $5.187 million, is likely to get a one-year contract in the neighborhood of $4 million, give or take, from the Blues and see how the marriage works out.
Right now, it's one that seems to fit like a glove with Tarasenko out until at least mid-February when the Blues will re-evaluate him following his third surgery on his left shoulder, but when Tarasenko comes back, it's one where adding the strength of a Hoffman makes the Blues even deeper, and one that can compete for a second Cup in three seasons.

"I think that's what all of us players want," Hoffman said of winning it all. "You want to win. I think this team has a great opportunity to do so. They did so a couple years ago, and I think the depth on this team is tremendous. I think they've got a very good shot of going all the way again."