Total Hockey sought to cut costs in recent months as part of a turnaround effort, trimming $2.5 million from its annual budget by cutting 20 employees from its corporate staff and reducing management compensation, according to court documents. Total Hockey also shifted marketing dollars away from television and print advertising, replacing it with digital advertising in markets where it operates stores.

In recent weeks, Total Hockey has been in talks with competitors and private equity firms about acquiring the chain and keeping the stores open.

TSG Enterprises, which is based in the Boston area, has made a stalking horse bid to acquire Total Hockey for $22.5 million. TSG owns the Pure Hockey chain, which has 23 stores, and Hockey Giant, which has nine stores, primarily in markets where Total Hockey doesn’t have a presence.

“Total Hockey exists in several markets that we’d like to expand into and there’s not a lot of overlap,” Matt Rosenthal, TSG’s director of retail marketing, told the Post-Dispatch. If the sale finalizes, TSG has not yet determined if it’ll operate the stores under the Total Hockey brand or whether Total Hockey will keep its Maryland Heights office.