The whole Freddie Hamilton and brother aspect was the one that always pissed me off. The drama is equally if not more destructive than dealing with a player whos agent is their Father. Freddie is not an NHL player and he got three years of payment, so for that the Hamilton clan should be happy. He had no business being on the Flames roster. I think that has the most to do with the apathy or anger Dougie had for the Flames on this one. Truly showed once Freddie was put on waivers. I mean for goodness sakes, they both played in Junior on the same team, now Boston/Worcestor and the Flames, that is not coincidence.
Losing Dougie hurts the team as he is a great player. I think he truly is probably a great person with his charity work and seems to be a pretty caring and emotional guy(hospital and kids). However in my opinion that is not a reason to keep someone around if they are not happy in the org. I am one that couldnt care less if a player is good in the community or is a role model. They could be a serial cheater with someone that hates puppies and kids. All i care about is whether he contributes to my team winning.
Lets just hope Hanifin can close the gap this year and for the future. Yes, he is an elite skater, but now is not as good offensively and from what I have seen and heard from those who are Carolina fans(I have family in Raleigh), he is very suspect defensively and needs alot of work on that part of his game.
|