[Super-Rye]

I personally love the trade. Hamilton is a long term solution to a big weakness in the Flames had. I waited a few days before posting my thoughts as I'm trying not to let my expectations gets swept up in all the excitement.

It's a home run because no matter how it turns out I don't think anyone can sit there and say that the Flames made a bad deal. They gave up a 15th overall pick and 2 seconds for a young, 22 year old, right handed Dman with elite potential. Those guys are super hard to find and it's extremely rare that one is even available for trade.

To me the trade breaks down as our first, our third, Baertschi, and Glencross for Hamilton and Kylington. I'd do that trade every day of the week and twice on Fridays.

I've watched Dougie Hamilton play a little before and really like his game, but he's not someone I've watched a ton over the last few years so I'm not sure really what to expect.

The nice thing is he is stepping into a situation where there are 4 guys who can log big minutes. He doesn't need to step in right away and be a big minute munching shut down guy. His style of game seems like it'll fit Calgary's system but if it takes a while for him to get accustomed to the team he's got coverage.

The other thing that I really like about this is Calgary drafted 2 other kids who have the same kind of potential. Hamilton is the more established, most likely to reach his potential ATM, but anything can happen (injuries ect...) and the Flames didn't put all their eggs in 1 basket, which is really nice to see.

While I don't buy the best defense in the NHL, i feel that's an over-reaction to the trade, Calgary did put themselves into the top 10 in the league for defense, possibly even top 5, with the room to grow into the best defense should their players continue to take steps forward.

I also like the message it sends to the locker room. We made the playoffs and that's great, we expect to get there again and do better, here's some reinforcements.