Mike Hoffman came with a $750,000 annual cap hit at the NHL level last season, but he’s due for a big raise after scoring 27 goals and 48 points in 79 games with the Senators. He’s reportedly not close to finding common ground with Ottawa though and the 25-year-old forward has filed for salary arbitration, per TSN’s Frank Seravalli.
Ottawa was able to claw its way into the playoffs last season on the strength of its young core with several of those players enjoying career seasons. That’s led to a summer of key negotiations for the Senators as they weigh each player’s 2014-15 performance against their sometimes short or otherwise less impressive resumes.
The Senators were able to ink goaltender Andrew Hammond to a three-year contract worth roughly $4 million and they recently signed Mark Stone to a three-year, $10.5 million deal.
In addition to Hoffman though, there’s also the possibility that an arbitrator will have to settle the negotiations with fellow restricted free agent Alex Chiasson.
“We’re far apart at this point and we don’t really see the arbitration case through the same lens,” Chiasson’s agent, Kent Hughes said, per PHT’s Dhiren Mahiban.
The silver lining is that Ottawa doesn’t have much left to take care of beyond Hoffman and Chiasson’s contracts. Shane Prince is the team’s only other remaining restricted free agent.
