Quote:
Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814
Be honest. When Gio was Dougie's age, did you see him becoming Gio? Because I remember before we traded Bouwmeester reading post after post about how Gio wasn't a true #1. I wrote a bunch of them. I remember when Gio went to Russia - 'don't let the door hit you on the way to the gulag' was how that went. Nobody expected him to even come back, let alone become a franchise player and "culture setter" as Treliving called him.
Hamilton has shown himself to be exceptionally capable in all situations. He has physical tools Gio can only dream of. He's 24, and yes, he's going to make $9M on his next contract. I can promise, no team in the league would regret having 28-33 year old Dougie Hamilton at $9M.
Johnny doesn't wear a letter, and he probably never will. I don't believe Doughty wore an A full time or at all in either of the Kings championship seasons. Between Gio, Monahan, Tkachuk, Hamonic, Backlund, I'm not seeing the need for Dougie to be some Messier type. Especially not at 24.
Here's the ultimate problem with trading Hamilton. It makes everything worse. It makes the power play worse because Gio and Brodie aren't as good offensively as Dougie. It makes the top pairing worse because Gio/Dougie >>> Brodano. It doesn't do anything to hurt the PK since Dougie doesn't play on it, but it also deprives you of Dougie freaking Hamilton as your reserve PKer when a RHD takes a penalty.
Brodie is expendable; Hamilton is not.
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I see a flaw in your first statement as it is not really comparing apples to apples. Gio was an indrafted player and Dougie was a top 10 pick. Many people are saying Sam Bennett is a huge bust but the they are also excited that Spencer Foo (who is 2 years older than Sam) has potential to be a top 6 forward. Gio was clearly a late bloomer.
Dougie has not proven to be capable on theboenalty kill so he is not an all situations type guy. The Brodie-Gio pairing was extremely elite and consider the fact they had fantastic numbers when the rest of the team had horrendous possession metrics. Gio and Dougie are an elite pairing but Gulutzan made the Flames as a whole a strong possession team.
Flames have Andersson who will not replace Hamilton but will step in as a RHD and has shown great offensive ability in junior and pro. Somwhile the Flames have 4 very intriguing D prospects they lack the same potential up front.
Yes Brodie is an expendable piece but I am not convinced he will return the type of impact forward the Flames need and that is the crux of my arguement. I want the Flames to consider moving Dougie if they can get the right return for a 25 year old top pair D with size and can shoot right. If Treliving trades Hamilton for less than he is worth I will be pissed.