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The Carolina Hurricanes announced yesterday that they failed to reach a contract agreement with Gregory Hofmann and Matt Mahalak, two former selections from the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. Both players will re-enter the draft to be held later this month.
Hofmann was the team's fourth pick that year while Mahalak was selected in the sixth round.
Jim Rutherford said in a released statement that the team wanted to sign Hofmann and thought that he has a future in the NHL, but they were unable to come to terms. The forward had 16 goals and 27 total points in 49 games for Davos in the Swiss League last season.
Mahalak went 22-11-4-3 for the Plymouth Whalers last season sporting a save percentage of .906 and a GAA of 2.86.
Last year, the Hurricanes had a similar problem and could not sign top goalie prospect Frederik Andersen to a contract. Andersen's agent claimed that the goalie wanted to play in the NHL and apparently felt he had a better opportunity on another team than with the Hurricanes.
How did that work out?
Andersen re-entered last season's draft and was selected in the third round by the Ducks, (87th overall) and ended up falling behind Jonas Hiller and Viktor Fasth, on the depth chart, a duo who split time and did well in Anaheim. Andersen spent the year in the AHL after all and went 24-18-5 for Norfolk, with a save percentage of .929.
The ironic twist? The goalie probably would have seen some NHL time for Carolina due to all the injuries. By the way, both Andersen and Hofmann have the same agent.
To see the official press release of the announcement, check out CH.com - Statement on Hofmann.