[Trade] Flames trade 15th OA, 45th OA, and 52nd OA for Dougie Hamilton

[Freeway]

The Flames massively upgraded their roster without giving up anything of note from the main roster. That's huge.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by PugnaciousIntern

I'm ecstatic to add a D like Hamilton, but we can't let expectations run away on us. We were already treated to one of the stronger defensive corps in the league last year, in particular one of the best top pairings.

So when people say that Hamilton is a "top pairing guy" or a "#1 D" or even "franchise potential", we've got to remember that most top pairings in the league are significantly worse than ours. He should be a great addition, but we can't expect him to be another Gio. Only the Oilers have Giordanos growing on trees.

Hamilton's only 22 so he won't be better then Giordano now but I don't think it's stretch to suggest he'll be a top pairing guy for the majority of his career, especially during his contact with the Flames. Having him and Brodie help keep the worry off when Gio's play trails off in 3-5 years.

There is a reason everyone thought we'd given up Bennett or Gaudreau when the trade happened, the guy is a legit tip pairing Norris potential player.

[Bingo]

the defense core will be interesting both at the top and the bottom, as both have implications on who plays with who.

I think decision number one is the Giordano / Brodie pairing. They were dynamite together, but they both shoot left, and Brodie has now proven he can carry a pairing which to me is huge.

It's one thing to have a top pairing with the two of them together, but if you can now have two top pairings because they both can anchor a duo the team is that much stronger.

Does Hartley reunite them? Or does he see the roster as three left shooting defensemen in Giordano, Brodie and Russell and let chemistry decide which righties go with each of them?

If Hamilton is money with Brodie then go with it? Or do you push the Giordano / Hamilton pairing and give them time to find that pairing voo doo?

Then from the bottom you have Engellend as a righty but what if he's pushed to #7 by ...

Smid (left)
Wotherspoon (left)

then you likely can look at playing Giordano and Brodie together again as two lefties have to hook up in one of the pairings.

Whereas if either of Nakladal or Morrison push there way on you're back to the Engellend situation

Won't even go there on Kyllington

[Trailer Fire]

In terms of pairings, I think you could roll three D pairings with relatively similar minutes.

Brodie - Hamilton
I think these two are meant to play together for years to come, so why not start now. Brodie showed at the end of the year that Gio wasn't carrying him through the season as he played mostly with Engelland.

Giordano - Engelland
I know seeing Engelland onntje second pairing is a tough pill to swallow, but he really stepped up his game big time after Gio went down and we all saw how well he was playing with a mobile PMD in Brodie. I imagine Gio could only help improve his level of play further.

Russell - Wideman
They were solid together last season, and I think playing them on the third pairing and reducing their minutes will pay dividends towards playoff time.

Play something like 22-20-18 or around that marker for minutes and you're laughing.

[dammage79]

For me, ideally I would like to see the left shot spit evenly with the right shots.

I do think a Gio-Wideman combo can prove deadly and will be the #1 PP unit along with 1a pairing.

Then you move your future #1 d pairing to the 2nd PP unit and 2nd pairing (1b) regular in Hamilton-Brodie.

I have a hunch Russell-Nakladal will be the 3rd paring with Engelland and Smid as the rotating 7-8.

So there's my prediction.

Gio-Wideman (worked well together IIRC in their short time together and Gio can cover Wide dogs D lapses while being great offensively still)

Hamilton-Brodie (All-Star pairing for a decade IMO. Stick em together early and reap the rewards later)

Russell-Nakladal (Not much of a shut down 3rd pairing but Russell can block the crap out of shots and hopefully Nakladal has a penchant for puck possession)

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by PugnaciousIntern

I'm ecstatic to add a D like Hamilton, but we can't let expectations run away on us. We were already treated to one of the stronger defensive corps in the league last year, in particular one of the best top pairings.

Our middle pairing was a defensive tire fire though, that got by on miraculous shotblocking and strong offensive output. What we should be adding is a player who can normalize the middle pairing.

So when people say that Hamilton is a "top pairing guy" or a "#1 D" or even "franchise potential", we've got to remember that most top pairings in the league are significantly worse than ours.

Most, but he was the #2 on the 2013-14 Bruins that won the President's Trophy, and still had guys like Boychuk and Seidenberg on their second pair.

He should be a great addition, but we can't expect him to be another Gio.

There is no other Gio. Gio is probably the best all around defenseman in the NHL, or at least right there in the conversation with Doughty, Keith, etc.

But what you're adding is a player who allow for an opportunity for the second pairing to succeed in either end.

Think of last year's hawks' top 4:

Keith-Seabrook
Oduya-Hjalmarsson

Whether it's Brodie or Hamilton, one of those players is able to be the Hjalmarsson on the second pairing and carry the Oduya (whether that Oduya is Wideman, Smid, Russell, Nakladal, Schlemko, Wotherspoon etc).

Last season we did not have that. And the middle (and bottom) pairings' shortcomings would end up in a lot of faceoffs in the defensive zone, which only made things harder on Gio & Brodie. But next season, Gio & Brodie can not only continue to be themselves, but be used more sparingly.

[FBI]

I have this feeling that the flames are going to be damn good this year.

[Vinny01]

Dougie is literally the exact player the flames were missing in their rebuild to being a cup threat. 22 year old that is a 2 way Dman. The way Calgary activates their D Hamilton is a perfect fit with his skill set

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

Dougie is literally the exact player the flames were missing in their rebuild to being a cup threat. 22 year old that is a 2 way Dman. The way Calgary activates their D Hamilton is a perfect fit with his skill set

I think the magnitude of adding Hamilton to our line-up has been severely understated by most media that I've seen. This is no decent pick up, we had rumors of $8-$9mil/AAV offer sheets being thrown his way. This is a franchise D-man that we acquired.

It's weird, you almost get a sense that Brad's ease of acquisition and his extremely cap friendly deal have almost softened the magnitude of the player we got in the eyes of many experts/analysts. It kind of feels like if we had given up a really good roster player and/or two firsts and then ended up signing him to a monster contract that the media would factor him into their season predictions more, haha.

My feeling from a lot of experts is that they're brushing him off as a decent pick up like you would for most players that only cost draft picks and a $5.75AAV contract instead of what he is.....

A young elite D-man that very well could have been traded for the 3rd-7th overall pick in this year's draft or received $8-$9mil/yr or an offer sheet until the Flames came in and ****ed over the whole league, starting with Boston.

I think the Flames are going to be a playoff team just based on Brodie/Giordano/Hamilton alone, barring an epic goaltending collapse that ruins everything.

[Galakanokis]

Every now and then I quietly giggle to myself when I think that we will soon see Hamilton lace 'em up for the Flames.

[LIP MAN]

Our D depth is great, and looks to be amazing with some of the newest additions.

[jar_e]

I cannot wait for this season to start to see Hamilton in play. Really excited at the potential of this defensive core.

[Calgary4LIfe]

The first time I heard that Hamilton was available, I thought: "That would be nice, but it is a pipe dream."

Then I heard: "Flames are in talks with Boston in acquiring Hamilton", I thought: "Screw Eklund and his bogus rumors!!!"

What a pleasant series of events.

[PrettyBoyFlizzy]

Everyone will eat minutes so the pairings will work itself out. No need to force left and right shots. This isn't Brent sutters flames. Do what works I would go back to gio and Brodie the best duo in the NHL.

[Rick M.]

I wanted the Flames to put together a package to go after OEL in the offseason, given Treliving's connections to Arizona's management. This is because I thought there was no way the Bruins would part with Hamilton. Little did I know....

[Zulu29]

Is it October yet???

[Da_Chief]

Next move should be to steal a stud young RW from some team, to replace Hudler next year.

[868904]

The Flames acquisition of Dougie Hamilton reminds me of the Jays acquisition of Josh Donaldson. I really hope it works out as well for the Flames as it has for the Jays.

[MisterJoji]

Sorry if this has been posted already but I saw this on reddit and thought it was pretty good. Thanks Boston.

[MisterJoji]

Double post