They combined on the prettiest, most spectacular goal in Senators history during a playoff game 13 months ago and, along with Mark Stone, they have been the team’s most prolific offensive players for years.

Before long, they could have something else in common. It now looks like both Mike Hoffman and Erik Karlsson will be traded.

The latter’s situation has been well -documented.

Unless general manager Pierre Dorion is overwhelmed by an offer he can’t refuse, it’s expected he’ll stick to his plan and offer Karlsson a contract extension when league rules permit him to do so: July 1, one year before he’s eligible to become an unrestricted free agent.

It’s also believed that Karlsson will reject the offer, whether because it falls short in dollars or he doesn’t like the direction the team is going under its current ownership.

At that point, Dorion will have to move him.

Of the teams thought to be interested are the Stanley Cup finalist Golden Knights, who made a pitch for Karlsson and Bobby Ryan at the trade deadline.

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Vegas GM George McPhee, it’s believed, will take another run at the Senators captain in the summer.

Hoffman, on the other hand, could be gone before then.

Multiple sources have confirmed Dorion has been shopping the flashy 28-year old winger for weeks, and a deal is expected to be made either before or at the draft two weeks from now in Dallas.

Hoffman has been Ottawa’s top sniper the past four years, scoring 104 goals in 313 games, but as a one-dimensional player with a contract that carries a $5.1875 million cap hit in each of the next two seasons, he does not fit into the plans of the rebuilding Senators.

On the TSN trade bait tracker compiled by the network’s insiders earlier this week, Karlsson was listed as the most likely player in the league to be dealt, while Hoffman was third.

The return on Hoffman may be disappointing.

“It’s hard to get value for big contracts,” said one league executive. “The teams with no cap space will want to send dollars back, too. Lots of teams with cap space will try to get value on a player like that without giving up much.

“It all comes down to how many teams are interested and what demand can build.”

Trading Karlsson will be devastating for a city that has adopted the 28-year-old Swede as its favourite son — no matter what the Senators can fetch for the future Hall of Fame defenceman. There are many fans who trudge out to Canadian Tire Centre every game wanting to be entertained as much as they want the home team to win, and there are even more who can’t understand why they can’t have both.

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The Golden Knights have proven that a successful team can be built without the presence of superstars, but spending $10 million a year on one electrifying player should not be an anchor. The new blueprint for a winner appears to be good management and coaching, like that provided by McPhee and Gerard Gallant, plus a work ethic and total buy-in from all of the players.

If he really does want to stay, the Senators shouldn’t allow money to prevent Karlsson from being a part of that?

Hoffman doesn’t match Karlsson on the people’s popularity scale, but he does have his fans. There was an outcry on social media and call-in radio shows when coach Dave Cameron put him on the fourth line a couple of years ago because he was dissatisfied with Hoffman’s defensive game. They argued that few in the league skate faster, few in the league have a harder shot and few in the league can dazzle any better than Hoffman. And they were right.

Hoffman is fun to watch — if not always for Dorion and coach Guy Boucher.

After a 30th-place finish in one of the most dramatic falls the NHL has ever seen, however, big changes should be expected. But you have to wonder how trading Hoffman and Karlsson will settle with Matt Duchene, who can also become an unrestricted free agent in less than 13 months, and Stone, whom the Senators want to ink to a long-term deal this summer.

Both players want to win now. And Duchene, who asked for a trade out of Colorado because he didn’t want to go through another rebuild, found chemistry with Hoffman last season.

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Also, without Hoffman and Karlsson, where will the offence come from for the Senators, who ranked 25th in goals for last season? Almost taken for granted is everything generated by Karlsson, who was the co-leader in team scoring this season and led the Senators in points the four before it, and that will sorely be missed when he’s gone.

Hoffman has never reached the 30-goal plateau his talents suggest he’s capable of hitting, but he has averaged more than 25 goals in each of his four seasons. In 2017-18 he dipped, as did the team, but while being one of only two Senators to play all 82 games, he finished third with 56 points and potted 22 goals.

He also had team-highs in shots (257), game-winning goals (five), overtime goals (three) and was Ottawa’s co-leader in power-play goals (eight).

The Senators will have to hope Ryan Dzingel (23 goals) builds on a career year and the few offensively gifted prospects they do have can pick up the slack — and that Dorion does very well on the trade front.

That’s a lot of hope. And patience.