Brody Hoffman has decided to forego his senior year at the University of Vermont and has signed with the Minnesota Wild.
The native of Wilkie played three years for the Catamounts, posting a record of 34-33-9 with a 2.45 goals-against-average and a .914 save percentage.
For Hoffman, this was an opportunity that has come up before.
“It’s something that came up last summer. I talked with my advisor and my parents and thought it was a possibility last year,” he said from Burlington, Vt. “I really buckled down this year at school, took some extra classes so I was in a position to leave now.”
Despite leaving school a year early, Hoffman still has plans to finish his schooling.
“I still want to finish my degree at some point, so my advisor talked to the teams and gathered all the information I needed, then me and my family made the decision.”
The Wild weren’t the only team interested in the 6’4’’, 205-pound Hoffman.
“There were a couple of other teams which contributed to the decision,” he admitted. “But I don’t know if I should disclose that information.”
Looking over those teams’ goalie situations also contributed to the decision.
“[The Wild] have some free agents coming up this offseason in terms of goalies,” he said. “I didn’t want to join an organization with a lot of goalies under contract.”
Minnesota has Niklas Backstrom and Darcy Kuemper under contract for next year, with Devan Dubnyk slated to be a free agent.
Although given Dubnyk’s outstanding play since being acquired from the Arizona Coyotes, it’s hard to believe he won’t be re-signed.
Their AHL goalies, John Curry and Johan Gustafsson, are also free agents after this season.
The city itself was also a factor in his final choice.
“It’s kind of a mid-western city. I like the idea of playing in maybe a smaller market, definitely a hockey market in Minnesota,” he quickly added. “But not like some of the Canadian cities in terms of the media.”
Hoffman spent his first full midget AAA season with the Battlefords Stars in 2007-08, and says it prepared him for a life of hockey.
“I have a lot of friends from that team that I still keep in touch with,” he said. “It was just fun going to school. That was my first year away from home so that was an adjustment, but it’s definitely something that I still reflect on.”
Hoffman then spent the following year with the Notre Dame Hounds midget AAA team, before two years with the Nipawin Hawks and one with the Fort McMurray Oil Barons of the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
Normally Hoffman would return to Wilkie for the summer, but with an NHL contract in his pocket, he wants to be as prepared as can be for next season.
“I think I’m going to stay in Burlington, do some training here and in Boston,” he said.
He’s looking forward to his next visit home, whenever that may be.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun. There’s a few people I’ll want to sit down with and have some adult beverages,” he said with a laugh.
He might not be at the centre of attention, however.
“It’ll be for my sister’s graduation, so the focus will be on her just as much as me.”
Hoffman didn’t sign an amateur try-out contract with the Wild’s AHL team, the Iowa Wild, so his one-year contract doesn’t kick in until next season.
Like a true pro, Hoffman says he’ll take whatever happens next year in stride.
“I just want to have a big summer,” he said. “Obviously have a good (training) camp, and then wherever I’m assigned I just want to work hard and learn everything I can from the organization, do whatever they ask me to do. It’ll obviously be an adjustment going to a pro schedule from a college schedule where there’s half as many games, but I’m going to put in the work this summer to get myself prepared.”
Should Hoffman begin the 2015-16 season in Iowa, perhaps it’s a question of how many, not if, Wilkie residents will make the 2,000-kilometre trip to watch Hoffman begin his professional hockey career.
