How well do you know Mike Hoffman?
Over the upcoming weeks, I'm going to do a series of articles on the newcomers of the team, that I'm going to call "how well do you know your", in order to prepare for the 2021-2022 season! I'll start with the player I feel I know best among the new acquisitions.
Mike Hoffman was born in Kitchener, Ontario but played junior hockey in the QMJHL with Drummondville, where he had 52 and 46 goal seasons.
Nickname: Hoff or Hoffmanov, because some players think he plays like a Russian player.
I personally saw Hoffman play a lot from 2013 to 2018, as he was in the Ottawa Senators organization. I watch a lot of games in a season and we have access to a lot of games from Canadian teams, so this explains it.
Mike is 6'1 and 182 pounds, which has always been an issue for him weight wise. Since he has been on the show, he has always lacked strength. A 10lb of muscle could help him a lot, I think. But his biggest problem since he arrived in the National Hockey League is his lack of consistency. For me, that's his two major flaws as a player.
Now in terms of his qualities, he is very fast. Often, he surprises the opponent with it. He will even be at 30 years, one of the fastest of the team this year. He probably has, with Alex Ovechkin, the best wrist shot in the league and by far. In Montreal, you haven't seen such a good wrist shot since #44 Stephane Richer's two 50 goal seasons. Hoffman doesn't hesitate to go for the goal.
He will be the main pivot on the power play. He is particularly dangerous at the point or in front of the net. Fans will either love Mike unconditionally or love to hate him. One thing is for sure, he leaves no one indifferent. Hoffman's best career season is with the Florida Panthers in 2018-19: 82 games/36 goals/34 assists/70 points.
Number 68 will make us spend some nice evenings this winter bundled up in our living rooms, he will also make us swear sometimes in the same living room by his lack of consistency. For now, his general manager Marc Bergevin looks like a genius here if you look at Tomas Tatar's new contract with the New Jersey Devils.
Barbu de Ville
