NHL transactions continue as Mike Hoffman signs PTO with Blues, and Lightning trade two for cap space
Anthony Scultore
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The activity in the NHL continued late yesterday and more is expected in the coming days before camps open.
NHL Transactions: Blues sign Mike Hoffman to a PTO
When news broke across the wire that Mike Hoffman signed a PTO and not a pro contract with an NHL team, there was some initial head scratching. At first, I thought this was him saying, “I’ll show up and earn a multi-year deal”, but then more information started to pour in.
Apparently, as many reported, there should be a deal forthcoming with the Blues on day one of the season. That’s because they will then put both Vladimir Tarasenko and Alex Steen on LTIR to maximize cap space.
Hoffman wanted a multi-year deal but it sounds like he will get a one year contract with the Blues this season. There’s also rumblings that he took a little less to sign in St. Louis.
NHL Transactions: Lightning become cap compliant in trade with Senators
The Tampa Bay Lightning also did some cap gymnastics of their own last night. They traded Cedric Paquette and Braydon Coburn to the Ottawa Senators for the contracts of Marian Gaborik and Anders Nilsson.
At the moment the Lightning are almost $16 million above the cap. Tampa will be putting Nikita Kucherov, Nilsson, and Gaborik on LTIR to be under the $81.5 million spending limit.
And like magic….cap issues go POOF!
More PTO news
The Florida Panthers have signed goaltender Scott Darling and defenseman Kevin Connauton to a PTO.