from Ken Campbell of The Hockey News,

Goals cost money and they take up cap space. And over the past six seasons, Mike Hoffman has proved with two teams that he can give you somewhere between 25 and 30 of them. In fact, he scored 36 in 2018-19 and was on pace to score 34 last season before the pandemic hit.

It’s so 2020 that we’re almost a month into free agency and Mike Hoffman has yet to find a home for next season. That’s in part because he wants a term that is longer than most teams would like to give. But with today’s news that Gustav Nyquist could be out of the lineup until early February after undergoing shoulder surgery, perhaps it’s time the Columbus Blue Jackets circled back on Hoffman. Doing so would help them both in the short and long terms.

Even with Nyquist in the picture, the Blue Jackets could use more offense on the left side. The current left wing corps of Alexandre Texier, Nick Foligno and Riley Nash combined for just 21 goals last season. And with Nyquist as a fixture on the first power play, he’ll need to be replaced and who better than Hoffman to do just that?

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