Toward the end of his tenure, Marc Bergevin may have been trying too hard to bring a competitive team back to Montreal. After the 2021 finals, it's hard to blame him, but he did give out hefty contracts and made questionable acquisitions.
Mike Hoffman is undoubtedly one of those questionable acquisitions. The forward was coming off a professional tryout contract in St. Louis, which means he wasn't highly valued by other general managers. Yet, he signed a three-year deal worth 4.5 million per year with the Canadiens.
In a recent interview with Jeremy Rutherford, a St. Louis journalist, Hoffman was very honest and direct about the sole reason he signed with the Canadiens.
So, when his professional tryout contract ended, there was an offer on the table from the Blues, but he accepted the Canadiens' offer solely for the money. Perhaps Marc Bergevin was aware of this, which played into his decision to offer him so much.
Even if Hoffman wore the CH jersey for the dollar signs rather than the logo, we can't fault him for being dishonest. He was very transparent. And we'll be transparent too in saying that we're very glad he's now in San Jose.
