There are certain unwritten rules in the NHL. Let two enforcers settle a beef instead of superstars, do not make an offer sheet to a restricted free agent and do not trade within the division. The logic for some of the rules makes sense in a vacuum. The conventional wisdom being that if you trade a player within the division, he will come up more.
This past Tuesday, the Ottawa Senators traded forward Mike Hoffman due to an off the ice incident. According to multiple reports, Hoffman’s fiancé, Monika Caryk, engaged in a pattern of targeted harassment against teammate Erik Karlsson’s wife, Melinda.