Rumor: New team emerges as front-runner for 25+ goal scorer Mike Hoffman.

It now seems rather obvious that the Ottawa Senators will be trading veteran forward Mike Hoffman prior to the National Hockey League's trade deadline at the end of February.

The question now is where will the talented goal-scorer end up, and how much will the Senators be able to get for a player that has scored over 25 goals in each of his last three seasons. 

According to a report from Ottawa Senators insider Bruce Garrioch one National Hockey League franchise may now be emerging as the clear favorite to acquire Hoffman in a trade.

From Garrioach:

[pub]

League executives also believe several teams have spoken to Dorion about Hoffman, who has a salary-cap hit of $5.1 million through 2019-20. It’s believed the St. Louis Blues are among the frontrunners, with GM Doug Armstrong willing to part with the necessary assets in exchange for Hoffman.

Garrioch has not touched on what assets Armstrong is willing to part with, but what is clear is that the Senators are looking to retool their team moving forward while the Blues are looking to win now. That would appear to indicate that the assets the Senators would receive are likely to be either prospects or draft picks.