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7 Trade Landing Spots for Dougie Hamilton Amid NHL Trade Deadline Rumors
Things sure went south for the New Jersey Devils in a hurry, didn't they?
Not only is the team in the kind of funk that requires fumigation, but they also managed to deeply upset one of their best players in defenseman Dougie Hamilton.
Hamilton was reportedly part of the package the team put together to try to persuade the Vancouver Canucks to send Quinn Hughes to Newark to join his brothers, Jack and Luke. As if being in trade speculation wasn't enough, now that Jonathan Kovacevic and Simon Nemec are back from injuries, the Devils are taking Hamilton out of the lineup to make room for him.
A player can only take so much, and according to Pierre LeBrun, Hamilton's agent, J.P. Barry, is trying to find a new team for his client.
Moving Hamilton won't be easy.
Hamilton's having a tough season, and he can submit a list of 10 teams he'd accept a trade to. He also has a $9 million cap hit and two more years remaining on his contract.
A right-handed shot defenseman with the kind of high-end all-around ability Hamilton plays with is very hard to find. The fact that the Devils have messed things up enough for the situation to get to this point is genuinely amazing, and now we're going to look for a new team for him to play for.
We'll keep Hamilton's no-trade protection and juicy cap hit in mind, but if it's tricky for us, imagine being the Devils' GM, Tom Fitzgerald.
Detroit Red Wings
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Even though the Detroit Red Wings already have Moritz Seider doing all the heavy lifting there, if they're going to set themselves apart from the rest of the teams in the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference, adding Dougie Hamilton would do it.
Part of the thinking that goes into where a player of the caliber of Dougie Hamilton should go in a trade, especially when he's got a list of 10 teams that he'd OK a deal with, is looking at who's sitting pretty in the standings and who could use a puck-moving right-shot defenseman.
Beyond Seider, the Red Wings are rolling with veterans Travis Hamonic and Jacob Bernard-Docker and rookie Axel Sandin-Pellikka on the right side.
There's room for improvement there.
Adding Hamilton to the Red Wings' defense, which already has Seider playing elite, Norris-level hockey, would provide them with a proven, outstanding defender and give them the opportunity to be a deeper team on the blue line. Even though they've gotten solid play from Simon Edvinsson, Albert Johansson, and role players like Ben Chiarot doing his thing, they could stand to have more help. Hamilton would address that.
The Wings have plenty of cap space to afford him and the players and prospects to make a deal, especially given the lack of leverage the Devils have and the lack of success they're having on the ice at the moment.
San Jose Sharks
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How about a do-over?
Elliotte Friedman shared that the Sharks tried to get Dougie Hamilton in a trade during the offseason, only to have Hamilton nix the deal. You can more than understand why Hamilton would do that, given how young the Sharks are and how minimal their chances of making the playoffs would be.
Fast-forward to now, and the Sharks are in the heat of the playoff race. They have a bona fide superstar in Macklin Celebrini leading the way for them, and all the young mojo is working in their favor. What's amazing is that the Sharks could do a lot to help their shot at the postseason by pursuing him again.
John Klingberg and Timothy Liljegren are among their leaders on the right side of the defense, and if you add Hamilton to that mix, the Sharks suddenly have a lot of depth on defense as well as a two-way player who can spur the rush and help them not just keep their attack going but be better defensively as well.
As of this writing, the Sharks are third in the Pacific Division, and if you thought they'd be this high up in the standings this late in the season, I hope you bought lottery tickets.
Toronto Maple Leafs
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Much to the chagrin of many NHL fans, the Maple Leafs are back into the playoff mix again. They've won seven of their past 10 games, and Auston Matthews is looking like himself again of late. But for as good as they've looked, there are still some holes to deal wit,h and the defense is clearly one.
It would be the most Maple Leafs way to address the situation by bringing in Dougie Hamilton, a could-have-been Maple Leaf. Hamilton was a first-round pick of the Boston Bruins, ninth overall in 2011, but the pick once belonged to Toronto and landed in the Bruins' hands in the Phil Kessel trade. It's the same deal that landed Boston, Toronto's first-round pick, which they used to take Tyler Seguin as well.
The Maple Leafs adding Hamilton, despite him being 32 years old, would vastly improve their blue line and (ideally) provide them with a means to move Brandon Carlo out to make it happen. Hamilton's two-way play would give a lift to the Leafs blue line and take some of the heat off the rest of the group as well.
Then again, things are going well enough there that making that kind of move might not be something they're looking to do since it's taken them this long to straighten things out this season.
For what it's worth, Leafs GM Brad Treliving acquired Hamilton from Boston via trade and re-signed him while with Calgary back in 2015, so there is history.
Los Angeles Kings
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There's no doubt that Kings GM Ken Holland isn't afraid to tinker around with his team. He did that earlier this season when he sent Philip Danault to Montréal, but the Kings are in a heck of a fight in the Pacific for the playoffs, what with San Jose and Seattle getting into the fight as well as dealing with Utah, Nashville, and Chicago in the wild card race. Giving Drew Doughty some help on the blue line would go a long way to helping things out.
If the Kings added Dougie Hamilton, it would give them a fair bit more confidence in their blue line on the right side that features veteran Cody Ceci and young up-and-comer Brandt Clarke as well.
Hamilton's two-way ability and prowess for moving the puck well up the ice would give the Kings another player who can help push their offense, which could use the boost (fourth-fewest goals for in the NHL). Even though the lack of goals would point to a need for forward help, their transition game could use the help since Doughty can't do it all, especially at age 36.
Vegas Golden Knights
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Usually, we reserve a spot for Vegas in these kinds of rundowns since they're a team that usually goes all-out to add anyone who can help, but the truth is, they could actually use Dougie Hamilton on the blue line.
With a group that features Olympians Shea Theodore and Noah Hanifin and one that's without Alex Pietrangelo for the long-term, adding Hamilton to their blue line group would help improve and deepen their group.
The catch, as always, with Vegas is how in the world could they afford Hamilton's $9 million cap hit? They're already into their LTIR allotment with Pietrangelo, Adin Hill, and William Karlsson on the shelf, but there's no doubt some creative bookkeeping and finding a player to send to New Jersey could be found to make such a deal happen.
As eager as Vegas is to get better at any cost, they're also capable of cutting the cord with any player to make it happen. Winning, but make it ruthless if you will. We don't mean to pooh-pooh the logistics of how such a trade could happen, but Vegas always finds a way to get what they're looking for, and if we had that kind of creativity, we'd be in hockey ops ourselves.
Carolina Hurricanes
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Is this a reunion that could happen? Let's spitball it a little.
Carolina is looking to move on from Jesperi Kotkaniemi, and the Metropolitan Division-leading Hurricanes are looking to lock that spot down. Getting that kind of help from within the division is rare, but not unheard of. If they could bring Dougie Hamilton back to Raleigh, it's the kind of move that would make them impossibly difficult to handle.
Carolina's defense group is already very good with Jaccob Slavin, K'Andre Miller, Shayne Gostisbehere, Sean Walker, and Jalen Chatfield. Rookie Alexander Nikishin has shown strengths this season as well, but a reunion with Hamilton would make them staggeringly deep and mobile on the blue line.
Using Kotkaniemi as a means to help free up salary in a trade makes a lot of sense, and Carolina GM Eric Tulsky is always looking for ways to make the team better all over the ice and isn't afraid to make a big splash. Even though they've regularly been in the mix for forwards, bringing back Hamilton, who played for the Hurricanes for three seasons from 2018-2021, checks a lot of those boxes.
Seattle Kraken
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As wild as the playoff race is in the Eastern Conference, the Western Conference is having a moment as well, and the Seattle Kraken are part of that. Not only are the Kraken in the wild card race, but they're also right there in striking range for third in the Pacific Division as well.
That's enough to put the Kraken in place to be a buyer, and even though they could use a spark up front to score more goals, adding Dougie Hamilton could help them reach that end as well.
Seattle's defense corps is dealing with an injury to puck-moving, offensive threat Brandon Montour, leaving Vince Dunn somewhat on his own in that role. While Kraken coach Lane Lambert demands strong defense, Hamilton would offer them the best of both worlds with his style of play.
The Kraken have enough cap space to be flexible in making a deal for a $9 million a year defender like Hamilton, and if they're going to be able to stand up to the best teams in the West, making their blue line group stronger and deeper would go a long way to doing that. Seattle needs goals badly, but a player of Hamilton's caliber becoming available changes the conversation.
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