We don’t make the playoffs in 22-23 without Hamilton and losing him 23-24 was big blow to the team.
That said, the salary cap exists and Hamiliton makes 9m.
I feel like Luke gets a short bridge deal and they figure out how to dump Dougie after next season.
Trading someone after 5 years isn’t nickel and diming them. His deal was structured to provide exits.
His contract is middle loaded. For Dougie, that avoids the heavy escrow % of the post-COVID era and he gets most of his money before the current CBA runs out in September 15 2026.
For the team, after they pay him his 10.55m signing bonus in July 2025, Hamilton is owed 14.65m for the next season.
A potential trade is made possible by him losing his NTC in his last 3 seasons. He doesn’t have a signing bonus in his last season so he can potentially be bought out then.
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Why is keeping Dougie hard? One way to understand salary allocation is to break it down by position.
Forwards 12/20 60%
Defense 6/20 30%
Goalies 2/20 10%
1) A more realistic breakdown is more like: 65% Forwards/ 27% Defense/ 7% Goal/ 1% other
2) You can’t count on having the full cap amount to work with.
3) You want spending to be pretty top heavy.
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This works now because Luke isn’t getting paid yet, but then having 4 guys making 21.9m for two years while we need to pay Luke is a problem.
21.9m is 24.9% of 88m
21.9m is 23.7% of 92.5m
Luke on a long term deal plus two defensemen would add +10m. With the salary cap at 92.5m that brings up to 35% of the salary cap, which tough to work with.
