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Originally Posted by HitterD
I have not personally seen Hamilton play a whole bunch. Can anyone comment on his shot? Would sure be nice to have another cannon on the pp, but 6'5" means nothing for shot power (see bouwmeester)
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Just perusing Bruins forums, it seems like they think he can be an elite offensive player, like 65+ point tier.
They're also really iffy about his game in the D-zone, sounds like there's going to be some real growing pains. We can at least afford to shelter him on the second or third pairing, something he wasn't getting on Boston's top pairing with Chara.
In terms of NHL games played, he's nearly two seasons away from the 300 game mark where Dmen are supposed to come into their own. That said I'm not going to expect him to transform into Chris Pronger. I'm going to treat him as a second pairing offensive defenseman who happens to be on the tall side, and if he proves better than that, awesome. But anyone expecting him to handle shut down minutes against Getzlaf and Perry anytime soon should temper their expectations. We have the best shutdown pairing in the world in Giordano/Brodie, if the second and third pairings can just hold the puck in the offensive zone that'll go a long way.