ANAHEIM

There is no hurry, of course, but two weeks into the period during which the Senators can begin negotiations with Mike Hoffman, the team's top goal scorer has heard of no such talks.

"I'll just really worry about the on ice performance," Hoffman said before Wednesday's game against the Anaheim Ducks. "That's pretty much all I can do at this point."

Hoffman, who received a $2 million salary at last summer's arbitration hearing after a break-out rookie season, is eligible to become a restricted free agent when the deal expires. The pressure of playing for a new contract is old hat to him.

"That's all I've done the last three years," said Hoffman. "But if you go out there and try as hard as you can, hopefully the end result will take care of itself."

No member of the Senators management group is currently on this road trip, as team scouting meetings are being held in Florida. Whether the plan is to try and get Hoffman's name on a shorter, bridge deal or a long-term contract is unknown.

"Not sure what they're thinking," said Hoffman. "Just have to wait and see."

What does he want?

"For sure obviously some security would be nice," said Hoffman. "I like the city, I like the team, I want to stay here. That's my number one goal. Hopefully that will be the end result.

"Even if you're on a multi-year deal, you still want to be performing and doing as well as you can," he added. "It's not like you take your foot off the pedal. What fun is that? You want to be doing as best you can. Sure there is pressure but you can't really control it too much. Just go out there and do the best effort you can and at the end of the day, hopefully everything else takes care of itself."

Notching his 20th of the season Sunday in Washington had "a little bit" of significance for Hoffman.

"It is two years in a row, but my goals are set a little higher than that," he said. "I had to get by that point at some time if I was going to come to the end result, so it's a little stepping stone to get to where I want to be."