The organization came to the determination that Hamilton was not part of the solution. They spent a year trying to get good value for him. They ended up getting TWO 5th overall picks - 2 actual core pieces, in exchange for 1. They got younger, faster, and more talented. They have more upside in the core than they did before. They are in a better position with cap management. They got a RHS C/RW who is great in the FO circle.
And some of you are trying to compare the trade to getting Lucic as a return.
Hanifin is Hamilton, 3 years younger, and without the baggage. I am not saying he is as good as Hamilton today, I am saying he is equally as talented of a player, and he is 3 years younger. His trajectory is Hamilton. But a more complete player, without the lazy penalties.
Plus, they got a really talented young forward who went before Monahan in the draft, who the coach is intimately familiar with, and who is just hitting his stride as a player.
I understand the 'whoever gets the best player wins the trade' argument (and have used the statement myself in the past), but let's see who the best player in the trade turns out to be before we make the assessment. Because there is a very strong chance that it is Hanifin, and there is also a chance that it is Lindholm (or of course Fox). Bottom line is that we don't know and won't know for a while.
What we can debate now though, and see first hand in a few months is: is the team better or worse after this trade? IMO,, it is unquestionably better.
This team was soft and undisciplined. He addressed that. It needed more talent up front. He improved that. It needed to be better in the dot, and got that. It got younger and faster. The core got more complete.
And if there was a problem (we don't know, but we could certainly see systems of one), it may have been addressed.
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