Quote:
Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm
Why?
I mean, it'd be nice if Hamilton was more of a finished product to play with Brodie now but beyond that?
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The thing with Hamilton is the reason, he's too young to be relied on as a legit top pairing guy in the next year or two in the same way Brodie couldn't be relied on it until the end of last year either.
To take maximum advantage of the cup contending window with Monahan, Gaudreau, Brodie, the franchise can't afford to have key contributors lagging a year or two behind in development.
When you look at the Hawks, who are at this point the blueprint, all of their key guys are within a couple of years of each other, with the defensive side of the equation being a couple of years old.
Keith/Seabrook, same age. Kane and Toews are about 6 months apart.
Hamonic and Brodie are a few months apart. Hamilton a few years younger. In the Hawks comparison, Hamilton fills the role of Nik Hjalmerson, with Brodie as the Keith and Hamonic the Seabrook.
Where Calgary's rebuild was lagging behind was in defensive players ready to play for the main organization in important roles. Calgary was looking at a situation where they were going to have to draft defenders that they believed would be able to step onto the main roster no later than their 2nd or midway through their 3rd pro season. Ideally, you draft a guy that can step onto your bottom pairing right from the draft. Otherwise, you have a veteran forward group having their best offensive years wasted with a young defence that struggles to defend. By the time that young defence has had an opportunity to mature with experience, the forward group is exiting their prime years.
Anaheim is experiencing this to some degree right now. Committed long term to a forward group likely past their prime while their young defence doesn't appear to be in a position to play to that level. By the time Vatanen and Lindholm become established veterans, getzlaf/perry will be 33-34. Not old, but no longer prime.
Adding Hamilton really addressed that deficiency for the Flames but they still need another top defender in the 23-26 year age range or they need to hit a home run and draft a guy this draft or next that can step onto an NHL Ice Surface within 18 months of being drafted and play as your #4 defender. That's a tall order.
With Hamilton already in the fold, acquiring Hamonic virtually eliminates the needs of targeting a young defender in the draft or by trade and allows the organization to focus on drafting skilled wingers with size in the immediate term, guys that will have their most productive goal scoring seasons on the wing at the same time that Calgary's best forwards are rounding into form/peaking.
I was hot-to-trot about Myers last year for the same reason.