On Friday, the Boston Bruins announced a blockbuster trade with the Calgary Flames. Calgary acquired defenseman Dougie Hamilton from Boston in exchange for the 15th, 45th, and 52nd picks in this year’s NHL Draft.
Don Sweeney said that the Bruins had extended a long-term offer to Hamilton prior to the move. As per TheScore.com, Sweeney explained, “I don’t believe that Dougie would’ve been comfortable in Boston going forward for long-term.”
Sportsnet’s John Shannon reports that sources say that Flames will be able to ink the newly-acquired RFA defenseman to a long-term deal.
The Bruins selected right wing Zachary Senyshyn with the 15th pick. Senyshyn is known for his fluid skating, creativity, and on-ice smarts. Boston then added centre Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson and defenseman Jeremy Lauzon with the pair of second round choices received from Calgary. Each of these three prospects figure into the long-term plans for a Boston squad that is suddenly in rebuild mode.
If Sweeney was correct, the Bruins were at least mildly successful in recouping some assets for Hamilton, who was intent on departing. However, the Calgary Flames are the clear winner in this deal. The 22-year-old Hamilton has emerged as a top-tier NHL defenseman. He’s set to earn a large, long-term contract and is likely to develop into a major factor for the Flames as they look to return to the postseason in 2015-16.
Hamilton joins a group that already includes Mark Giordano, Dennis Wideman, and TJ Brodie. He figures to improve the already strong play of Flames defenders. While with the Bruins, Hamilton showed an ability to improve the shot generation, shot suppression, Corsi, and goals for rates of his teammates during his first three NHL seasons.
Individually, Hamilton has already developed into a top-pairing defenseman. His shot and scoring rates are elite. With time-on-ice increases, Hamilton’s scoring opportunities will grow, which may vault Hamilton into the mix with the NHL’s best offensive blueliners.
Hamilton’s statistics stack up well with Flames top defenseman Mark Giordano as well. Giordano was an early-season Norris Trophy contender and, while his rate stats and percentages are generally stronger than Hamilton’s, the two defenders show some remarkable similarities.
In terms of points and assists per 60 minutes, Hamilton produced numbers virtually identical to Giordano’s stats. The biggest gap between the pair of blueliners has been Hamilton’s relatively smaller share of ice time in Boston. After making such a significant push to acquire him, expect the Flames to push Hamilton’s minutes up, especially as Giordano works his way back from surgery.
All told, the Calgary Flames acquire an emerging top-tier defenseman. Hamilton is the type of blue-chip young blueliner that all teams covet. He appears poised to develop into the type of franchise cornerstone that the Flames can build around as other youngsters like Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan develop.
With approximately $20 million in cap space, the Flames can certainly afford to sign Hamilton to the long-term contract that Boston couldn’t justify or afford. Brian Campbell, Drew Doughty, Zdeno Chara, Marc Staal each earn approximately $7 million next season and it seems likely that Hamilton is set to join that pay scale.
Written by Sean Tierney, who can be found @SeanTierneyTSS
