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The problem here with those who hate this deal is:

1) that they over-valued Hamilton the player - I've been trying to downplay Hamilton's value for weeks here cause I had a feeling the Flames were going to trade him. I kept reading words on this site about Hamilton being "elite offensively" or having "elite offensive production" or "elite goal scoring defensemen" and knew there was going to be a bad reaction once he was traded. Dougie Hamilton was the 21st leading point producer in the NHL last season with 44 points. He was not "elite". The top 5 leaders in defense scored between 63 to 68 points; those are where the "elite" scoring numbers were and Hamilton wasn't anywhere close to it.

Hamilton's career high was 50 points. That's good offensive production, but it's not elite. That is Dennis Wideman type production. The difference between Hamilton and Wideman is that Hamilton is 6'6" and skates like a deer; however, Wideman's give a crap meter is a hell of a lot higher than Hamilton's. Both Hamilton and Wideman produce offense at a good (but not elite level), but both are atrocious defensively. The reason why Hamilton gets a pass is because he is 6'6". In years prior, short defensemen always got overlooked regardless of their production. Wideman and Giordano produced in junior and never got drafted. But if you are 6'6", well then you are the next Chris Pronger or Chara. There really wasn't much difference in Hamilton and Wideman's game, but optically Hamilton was superior because of his size and his 9th overall pedigree.

I know I’m getting a bit picky here about the how to classify Hamilton’s production, but I think it is important because a lot of posters and Flames fan were over-valuing him. He is NOT Brent Burns, or Victor Hedman, or Erik Karlson, or Drew Doughty, or John Carlson. He is a flawed defensemen who produces offense at an above average rate but who is terrible defensively and his defensive play is my biggest issue with him. Hamilton is terrible defensively, Giordano was constantly covering up his mistakes and I think Gio’s game suffered for it. The decline in Gio’s offensive production is not only a result of his age, but also just being burned out from doing double the work defensively. Being paired back with Brodie, should allow Gio to contribute more offensively. I think Giordano is a better offensive producer than Hamilton. Gio’s career high is 56 points and 21 goals, numbers that Hamilton never achieved in Calgary (but came close). Gio’s best season was 47 in 64 games or a 60 point rate which again is better than what Hamilton could do. And of course on top of that production, Gio was and still is a beast defensively. All this talk pre and post trade about Hamilton being the Flames best defensemen was absolutely ridiculous. A defenseman has to be able to DEFEND, which Hamilton can’t do. It was and is completely insulting to Giordano to call Hamilton the Flames best defensemen.

I was originally excited about acquiring Hamilton, but I also had some trepidation because the Bruins were a good organization. Why were they trading him? Everyone laughed at Sweeney calling him a newb GM, but they failed to recognize that while he was a new GM, an NHL’s executive team is more than just a GM. The Bruins organization as a whole recognized that Hamilton wasn’t that good and made a decision to sell. Look at what the Bruins have become since under Sweeney, they are back to being an elite team again and stocked with young prospects and players. They assessed Hamilton properly and now the Flames executive team, having seen him up close and personal now for 3-4 years are doing the same thing.

2) Hamilton’s Personality – I don’t care about the cross dressing, I don’t care about the introvert, but I have an issue with his lack of accountability and responsibility of skipping out on “clean out day”. It’s about facing the music. All your teammates were doing it, why can’t you do it? The fans want to hear from you, they pay good money for your salary, it’s part of the job. You don’t get to just skip out on it. As for the “well Kipper did it” argument; Kipper earned that right by leading his team to a Stanley Cup final and being the backbone of the team for years.

3) Contract control – A lot of the haters keep ignoring this fact. The Flames are gaining significant player control here. Hamilton has a few years left and will be UFA. Ferland IS A UFA next season. Fox wasn’t going to sign. The Canes might end up with 3 total seasons of play from Hamilton, Ferland and Fox. The Flames will likely get that from one of Lindholm or Hanifin alone, and if all goes well should get at least 10 service years out of them.

4) Undervaluing Lindholm and Hanifin – Lots of Flames fans have a myopic view of these guys because they play in Carolina, but both have huge potential. For those die hard flames fans who follow prospects and drafts, we know what potential these two have. Just look at the “Lindholm – Monahan” poll from 2015. Lindholm has great potential, very much unrealized. Of course, an issue here is, is Bill Peters the best guy to help him realize it; but that is besides the point if we are talking potential and value. If some other team acquired Lindholm, everyone would be talking about “fresh start” and projecting bigger offensive production. Also with these two way Swedish centres, sometimes it takes them a while to realize their offensive production. Look at Backlund, look at Zetterberg, look at Henrik Sedin. The reason is because Swedish centres are taught from a young age to focus on the defensive side first and sometimes they become overly cautious and neglect the offensive side. Lindholm came straight to the NHL after being drafted while Zetterberg and Sedin spent some more time in Sweden to develop first; it might have been better for Lindholm to have stayed an extra year in Sweden before going over to that tirefire in Carolina. Lindholm’s first few seasons in the NHL mirror that of Zetterberg and Sedin. He is poised for an offensive breakout. Lindholm doesn’t even need to turn into Zetterberg or Sedin for this trade to be a win for the Flames. He just needs to improve to a 50 to 60 point producer, which I think is very much achievable.

As for Hanifin, he’s still a work in progress but the potential again is huge. He was and still is considered to have franchise player potential. Flames fans are super high (and probably over valuing again) on Anderson and Kylington, but Hanifin was drafted in the same year and has already played 3 full NHL seasons. Hanifin’s skating is elite, not “skates like a deer good”, but ELITE. He is one of the best skaters in the game period and this is becoming ever important in the game. Look at all the sub 6’ tall defensemen getting selected high in the draft because of their skating ability, and Hanifin has that skating ability and is 6’3”! I’m not expecting or anticipating Hanifin to ever produce at an elite level, but I do think he will be 40 to 50 point producer but eventually develop into a strong defender, which is something I never saw Hamilton developing into. There’s more for Hanifin to develop defensively, whereas Hamilton is getting close to his potential there. Learning the defensive side is about attitude and character, something i'm not sure Hamilton had the right amounts of.