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

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by MoreDrank

I think Hamilton is struggling with Hartley's ridiculous collapse and "flop in front of da puck first" defense system. He's having to unlearn all of the good habits and instincts he learned under Claude Julien's coaching to get out of the doghouse.

This is why the whole team is struggling. Gio looks like crap, Brodie is struggling to cover the front of the net, Wideman gonna Wideman, Russell is the best shot blocker in the league and even he struggles with Hartley's insane defensive strategy.

The defensive strategy is awful - as is our breakout plan. Combine the two, and we deserve to be exactly where we are in the standings.

[Poe969]

Everything Calgary Flames is crap so far this year. People complaining about Hamilton need to give their head a shake. The kid is good, not great right now but still good. Thing is, he'll get a lot better. The team is not doing poorly because of him, as the team improves he will improve a lot too.

I'm still amazed that we got him and I'm willing to bet a lot of teams would still want him right now.

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by Poe969

Everything Calgary Flames is crap so far this year. People complaining about Hamilton need to give their head a shake. The kid is good, not great right now but still good. Thing is, he'll get a lot better. The team is not doing poorly because of him, as the team improves he will improve a lot too.

I'm still amazed that we got him and I'm willing to bet a lot of teams would still want him right now.

He is the 5th best defenseman on the 3rd worst team in the NHL.

Is he good enough to part of the solution?

He is getting paid the 15th most in the NHL as a d-man. He is getting paid 1.1 M more per season than Brodie. We have gone almost 25% of a season and he has had significantly more bad plays than great plays. His highlight reel as a Flame is very short.


The part that is bewildering is that Hartley has significantly more confidence playing Wideman against the better players from the other teams.

He starts Hamilton with Russell and is waiting for Hamilton to step up but it always ends up with Hamilton earning the 5th most minutes.

[GoJetsGo]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

He is the 5th best defenseman on the 3rd worst team in the NHL.

Is he good enough to part of the solution?

He's 22. My god it's painful reading how you arrive at your stubborn, short-sighted stances.

[MrMastodonFarm]

I finally took the advice of many and put him on ignore. It's easier GoJetsGo, give it a try.

[Poe969]

No, Ricardodw makes a point. Hamilton has not eclipsed a hundred points and he's not leading the league in any stat. He should use his time on the ice to master interpretive ice dance during Flames games so that when people are eating ice cream, they stop eating and stare at the beauty on the ice thereby avoiding ice cream headaches that lead to arguments at the game because those arguments would fill people with rage and they'd start fights and drive carelessly and cause accidents killing hundreds of innocent people. Hamilton is not only a bad hockey player but a bad person for allowing all the negative things in the world to happen!
#ricardodw'ed

He's not the 5th best defenseman on the team, he's the 5th most used. Hamilton was probably the B's best defender last year, do you honestly think he regressed that much or do you think that the coach is not playing him properly. I'd be willing to bet actual money that if you asked most any fan who they'd want from the Flames D, the top 2 answers would be Brodie and Hamilton. If you honestly think that Wideman and Russell are better than Hamilton, you should just stop.

[adc]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

He is the 5th best defenseman on the 3rd worst team in the NHL.

Not even close. The only defenseman that has outplayed him this year is Brodie.

Hamilton has easily been the 2nd best defenseman for the Flames this year and is the one guy who seems to be improving game by game.

Is he good enough to part of the solution?

Yes

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Now he's the 5th best d-man on the team? Please tell me you don't have Gio and Wideman ahead of him right now.

[Hackey]

Since Ricardo loves to use random stats that don't prove his point I'm assuming he arrived at 5th best defenceman based on 5th in ice time.

[AcGold]

That's too much credit, I picture a magic 8 ball situation.

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

I finally took the advice of many and put him on ignore. It's easier GoJetsGo, give it a try.

Yes, and for the love of everything people, STOP quoting him.

[Inglewood Jack]

you know things are bad when we need Moon's help to stop the RGI-fueled madness...

[Armchair Quarterback]

Voted "Rather have the picks", and I still stand by that decision. You don't build a championship team through big money signings, that's how you get to country club 2.0. Big signings of players from crappy Eastern teams...hmm where have we seen this before? Lol.

Of course, I do think Hamilton is a good player with great potential. I want to see him improve his game. Not his fault the team is garbage right now. But as of right now it appears that Treliving wants the Flames to relive the Sutter years.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

Rushed bad pass by Hamilton results in a turnover tonight. Also soft behind the net, Russell is tougher

His first 10 games were awful. Lately not as bad but if he is not going to be tough to play against defensively he needs to be that much better in other areas

Fans need to understand that the players do what the coaches tell them to do. The system is all about positioning and sticks in lanes.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by Armchair Quarterback

Voted "Rather have the picks", and I still stand by that decision. You don't build a championship team through big money signings, that's how you get to country club 2.0. Big signings of players from crappy Eastern teams...hmm where have we seen this before? Lol.

I get it you are comparing Hamilton to Bouwmeester. The thing is the Bruins were a 94pt team that barely missed the playoffs. The year before they won the Presidents trophy and the year before that lost in the SCF. Dougie played on all 3 of those teams and that was the environment he was developed in.

Name 1 championship team that was built entirely through the draft. The Hawks signed Hossa, the Kings traded for Richards, Carter, Gaborik, the Bruins signed Chara, Thomas.

The Flames had drafted Brodie, Monahan, Bennett, Gaudreau that are core players for the next decade. The team was missing a Dman in a similar age bracket. To draft and develop a top 4 D usually takes 3-5 years u less you are picking top 3.

Treliving finally capitalized on the cap space and assets he had to land a player that was already 4 years post draft with promising skills and results. He has struggled to date but for the Flames to find out if they lost this trade might take 5+ years and if that is the case it makes sense they pulled the deal off

[cofias]

5.75M per for a top pairing defenseman through his prime is hardly a "big money signing", he would have commanded 8-9M as an UFA. If Hamilton's career goes straight down from here then yes it was a poor trade and signing, in any other scenario this trade was highway robbery.

[pseudoreality]

Originally Posted by cofias

5.75M per for a top pairing defenseman through his prime is hardly a "big money signing", he would have commanded 8-9M as an UFA. If Hamilton's career goes straight down from here then yes it was a poor trade and signing, in any other scenario this trade was highway robbery.

Are you saying that if the Bruins screwed up and ended up not qualifying Hamilton he would have got $8-9MM as a 22 year old UFA? I think the Flames hope he developes into an elite defenseman that could get that money on the open market, but it's a far stretch to say he's there now. I think if he went UFA he probably wouldn't have got much more than the Flames gave him.

[Poe969]

I think what cofias meant was that the contract the Flames have Hamilton at now carries into when he'll be in his prime. Right now I agree that he'd likely get more on the open market than he did just because there would be a bidding war for him but the point is that this contract goes into those UFA years. In 2-3 years he'll be an 8-9 million dollar player, now he's probably a little less than a 5.75 million dollar player but this contract will even itself out in the end if not be a steal for the Flames.

Long contracts on younger players is paying more for potential of what they'll be than what they currently are. When I watch Hamilton play, you can tell he's going to be a lot better and it's exciting.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Major Major

This is just ridiculous to say at this point.

Is it any more ridiculous than saying Bennet will develop into a 1st-line centre? Both require projections. I know that the most tempting thing for a fan to do is project to maximum potential. I'm not doing that, I'm projecting what I believe is the most likely outcome. I think Hamilton will get better defensively, but to be a top-pairing guy his defensive game will have to improve dramatically, and I don't think that's inevitable. There are lots of 30 year old defencemen in the NHL who are not great defensively. As for physical play, it's pretty rare for a player who lacks aggressiveness and bite at 22 to develop it later in his career. There's nothing wrong with a big, speedy defenceman who can move the puck and has a big shot. And developing into a good #3 isn't some kind of failure or disappointment (for me, anyway).

[calgaryblood]

Originally Posted by adc

Not even close. The only defenseman that has outplayed him this year is Brodie.

Hamilton has easily been the 2nd best defenseman for the Flames this year and is the one guy who seems to be improving game by game.




Yes

This team really is in shambles if Hamilton has been our second best defenceman.