Hoffman For Boedker

			2018 Season			July 1st, 2018
To San Jose	POS	Age	GP	Goals	Points	Years	Cap Hit
Mike Hoffman	F	28	82	22	56	2	$5.2 mil
Cody Donaghey	D	22	0	0	0	1	$617k
2020 5th Round Draft Pick
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To Ottawa	POS	Age	GP	Goals	Points	Years	Cap Hit
Mikkel Boedker	F	28	74	15	37	2	$4 mil
Julius Bergman	D	22	0	0	0	1	$714k
2020 6th Round Draft Pick

Tuesday morning got off to a rockin' start, as there was a trade announced first thing, seeing the Ottawa Senators and San Jose Sharks swap some players and picks.

The Senators have parted ways with forward Mike Hoffman, who has been the centre of some ugly allegations and has reportedly been on the block for quite some time already, and in return they receive Danish forward Mikkel Boedker, who has been bouncing around quite a bit in the last few seasons, struggling to find his scoring stride on a consistent basis.

Hoffman has been hovering around the 55-to-60 point range in the last three seasons and I think there is still some upside with his game, something that could certainly unlocked, playing with guys like Joe Pavelski and/or Logan Couture.  This becomes a pretty good little upgrade for the Sharks, who couldn't find the scoresheet nearly as often as they would have liked against the Golden Knights in the playoffs.

The Senators get a little bit more cap flexibility in their lineup, shaving $1.2 million off their annual hit, but with that, they do receive a bit more inconsistency in their lineup, which struggled for regular scoring in the 2018 season.  Boedker was up at 51 points in 2016, way down to 26 points in 2017 and rebounded a little in 2018 with 37 points.  There's a chance that Boedker could find some chemistry in Ottawa, but I wouldn't be holding my breath.

Besides the top two forwards in the trade, the teams also swapped prospect defensemen and picks in 2020, but it is really the forwards that highlight this deal and make it what it is.

I'm expecting to see some better numbers out of Hoffman in the coming season, already penciling him in to really take a big step in the right direction.  This move could be a huge weight off his shoulders and after a couple of failed seasons of projecting 65 points, I'm bumping him up to 70 points for 2019 right now.  Boedker, on the other hand, I've had a bit more success in his projections, having him in the 35-point range last summer, and I am only expecting him to do roughly the same next season.  I'm not convinced that this is a better move for the player or the team, not that they really had much of a choice to keep Hoffman or not.