[CliffFletcher]

In my 33 years as a Flames fan I don't think I've seen a player with such wildly varying fan assessments of his value. Count me among those who just don't see what the fans in love with Hamilton see. He's an offensive defenceman who finished 21st in defenseman scoring, and fans here are expecting a return greater than what Pronger got. It's crazy.

One thing that strikes me is it's become impossible to talk about how good a player is defensively. I don't know how or why that happened, but it makes it difficult to come close to agreement on a player's value, or even have a worthwhile discussion about it.

I look at Hamilton, when I'm watching him try to handle an opposing forward coming down the wing, or pick up his man in the slot, and I see a player who is poor defensively. Who makes me genuinely nervous. I see a player who either doesn't know what his responsibilities are defensively, or simply isn't dialed in enough to carry them out. And while he's a strong skater lugging the puck up the ice, he looks clumsy skating backwards and in tight, which is why gets turned around so often and resorts to tripping or taking a whack at a forward who's getting around him.

And his coaches seem to see the same player, because they protect him from any situation where they need to stop the other team from scoring. Stud defencemen get PK time. Lots of it. Hamilton gets almost none. And let's not forget, team North America didn't think he was good enough to make the team, even though he had more points than most of the other d-men who made the team.

I don't see a bad defenseman. I see a very good skater with good offensive instincts and a great shot. Once he matures, he could be a Mike Green. But unless he completely transforms how he approaches the game, Hamilton will never be a player a coach confidently puts out against another team's top line while trying to protect a lead in a playoff game.

And I don't have any doubt that when it comes to character issues, where there's smoke there's fire. The brother babysitter thing. The tantrums in practice. The lack of discipline in important games. The defensive slackness. The questions around why he left Boston. Ducking the media on garbage bag day. Declining to go to the World Championships in 2016 even though he was healthy and doesn't have family responsibilities, and then (unsurprisingly, given that snub) apparently not even invited this year. The fact that when insiders were murmuring about character issues on the Flames, his name kept coming up. It all reeks of entitlement.