Nashville quite literally had to waive Dante Fabbro because of a log jam on defense
"if a team is willing to take hamilton for free". Ridiculous. Giving away a top tier dman in an utterly atrocious RD UFA market. Dougie would get 9x3 in a HEARTBEAT this offseason. That's like the Orlov contract
Lol. Again. Let's rewind a month or two "I wonder if Roman Josi will be given away for free. It would solve a lot of Nashvilles cap problems and clear up a spot in the lineup for Fabbro".
They traded Fabbro for Justin Barron another Dman. They have one other Dman signed past next season apart from Josi in Skjei. After Josi and Skjei they have a 35 year old Luke Schenn signed for one more season, Jeremy Lauzon and a bunch of barely NHL caliber defenseman on their roster. In what world is that a logjam? To compare that to the Devils that have Nemec and Casey in the AHL due to the logjam is laughable.
Hamilton will be 32 in the offseason. 3 years at $9M per might be the rate he'd get in UFA, but UFA contracts are usually signed with the knowledge that you're probably overpaying a bit to secure said player. With a Luke extension coming up, Kovacevic extension hopefully soon to follow and two high end prospects waiting in the wings in Nemec and Casey what logic would there be to keep Hamilton at his cap hit?
The Preds are bad anyway and their only other defenseman on their roster who's a top 4 is Brady Skjei, If the Devils didn't have Hughes, Pesce, Siegs, Kovacevic, Casey and Nemec in the org than it wouldn't make sense to trade Hamilton, but when you have that much talent on the blue line it doesn't make sense to keep paying Hamilton if necessary.
What is your plan if they don't trade Hamilton? Let Kovacevic walk who has provided elite defense on the backend? Keep Nemec and Casey in the AHL for the next three seasons?