[CliffFletcher]

People are making a false assumption here that strong defensive play = crushing people. It doesn't. Nik Lidstrom was the most effective defensive player in the league, and he didn't crush anybody. Marc-Eduard Vlasic is one of the best defensive players in the league today and he doesn't crush anyone either.

These threads just show who people looking at the same thing can come to dramatically different conclusions. The Dougie Hamilton I see is a poor player without the puck. And he has not gotten any better in the last two years. And no, all players don't 'get it' eventually. There are defencemen who are shakey, uncommitted, and unreliable defensively when they enter the league, and they're still shakey, uncommitted, and unreliable defensively when they retire. You'd think a fanbase that witnessed the lack of development of Dion Phaneuf would recognize these signs.