[belsarius]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Dion Phaneuf says hi. And he isn't the only skilled young defenceman who never improved much defensively - the are a lot of one-dimensional d-men in the NHL. It remains to be seen if Hamilton's all-around play improves substantially. But it's not a given.

And that's what some of us are saying. Right now, Hamilton is not an all-around d-man. He has big holes in his game. And it's perfectly legitimate to express concern about his development, especially given his salary. Nobody is saying he won't or can't improve. But it's not inevitable, and the clock is ticking.

I guess I just don't see the holes in his game. He puts up points, has a decent nose in the offensive zone, still makes some mistakes defensively, but it's not as if he is getting beaten every second game because of terrible positioning. Dion had a lot of obvious holes to fix that I just don't see in Hamilton. He needs seasoning, experience and vision. I've seen improvement from the start of last season to this one and that's all I expect form a 23 year old and nothing he has done makes me doubt he can't continue the trend and become a great top pairing guy very soon.