Value of: Dougie Hamilton

[Stephen Gionta]

Yes - I know he has a NMC.

With emergence of Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec in NJ, Hamilton has become an expendable piece. These teams strike me as potential destinations that could be interested in Hamilton.

- Anaheim
- Arizona
- Calgary
- Chicago
- Montreal
- Philadelphia
- San Jose
- Seattle

What could NJ get for him? Assuming he waives his NMC.

Click to read more...

 

[Mrfenn92]

No thanks from Chicago. Already have Seth signed long term at a high aav

 

[Ol' Jase]

Anaheim makes a lot of sense.

 

[SnS]

I’d likely pass as philly too unless it was so cheap every NJD fan wanted to retire being fans

 

[BonMorrison]

Hamilton for Marner, let's go.

 

[cwede]

trade a star guy 2-1/2 seasons into a 7 year UFA deal,
without a genuine reason related to him,
and you may never sign a peak UFA again

 

[Frozen Failure]

Seguin for Hamilton?

 

[My3Sons]

He’s potentially out for the rest of at least the regular season. Let’s see how he comes back from injury. He only makes sense as a trade target from a team with some extra cap that is looking to compete and that needs pop on the blueline. I can’t see any of the rebuilding teams making an offer.

 

[pth2]

I'm not sure how or why Montreal would be interested.... his cap hit, contract length and age aren't a fit for a rebuilding team that's looking at a couple of years before being expected to make the playoffs. He'd be 32 before their window opened, at best.

I mean, if he comes for really cheap in terms of assets, who knows what might be possible, but I expect a team in a win-now mode with a hole on D is sure to make a better offer than anything that would make sense for Montreal.

I expect with his cap # and the fact he'd already be on his 5th team he might not be worth as much as his play and stats lead us to believe.

EDIT: Montreal has 3 young RD coming up, in Reinbacher (who they drafted high so must believe in), Mailloux and Barron, who current management traded for and is doing well enough, so investing assets on RD might be counterproductive.

 

[Xirik]

Not mentioning the fact that he suffered a potential season ending injury in the OP seems a bit disingenuous.

 

[ponder719]

Hamilton for Ellis? Sure.

Hamilton for assets? Not likely.

 

[Stephen Gionta]

trade a guy 2-1/2 seasons into a 7 year UFA deal and you may never sign a peak UFA again

In general, I agree with that thinking... but look at how Vegas has treated some of their players, yet they still remain arguably the #1 destination players want to go to.

I don't think many free agents even think about this stuff as much as we think they do.

They think about:
1. The money and the term
2. The fit on the team at the time
3. Taxes and Living, etc.

 

[My3Sons]

trade a guy 2-1/2 seasons into a 7 year UFA deal and you may never sign a peak UFA again

The OP has a habit of posting semi-random trade proposals typically involving NJ players. This one is about two years premature. As you’ve noted teams shouldn’t look to move a noteworthy UFA signed recently if they don’t want the team’s reputation to take a hit. Beyond that you have the injury and my guess is Hamilton needs next season to reestablish himself. I think his trade protection drops to a 10 or 15 team list after 2026 so that’s the time to look into a trade if they want to. He’s not so old he can’t can’t recover from his injury and play at his usual level but this is way premature.

 

[Jared Dunn]

Dallas. Faksa + Lindell + picks for Hamilton + Lazar

 

[HugeInTheShire]

Silly even to speculate right now, he's hurt and may not return before the season ends.

 

[StreetHawk]

Yes - I know he has a NMC.

With emergence of Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec in NJ, Hamilton has become an expendable piece. These teams strike me as potential destinations that could be interested in Hamilton.

- Anaheim
- Arizona
- Calgary
- Chicago
- Montreal
- Philadelphia
- San Jose
- Seattle

What could NJ get for him? Assuming he waives his NMC.

Isn't NJ missing their other vets on D at the moment like Severson and Graves that they moved off of? Along with injuries at F. Not a move until the kids are fully established for a much longer stretch. And it's a $9 mill cap charge.

 

[Some Other Flame]

Huberdeau for Hamilton sure

Otherwise, lol no

 

[Brodeur]

Probably not an issue until Nemec's ELC expires (likely now in the summer of 2026).

Depending on how his signing bonus is structured, Hamilton only makes 6.25 million in salary for 2026-28 combined. So that might be attractive to certain teams.

But like others said, it's a bit premature to call Hamilton expendable after a handful of games with Nemec.

 

[vtdevils2k]

Surprised Holtz isn't included somewhere here.....

This is WAY too premature.

 

[GAGLine]

trade a star guy 2-1/2 seasons into a 7 year UFA deal,
without a genuine reason related to him,
and you may never sign a peak UFA again

I don't think there's any chance that Hamilton gets traded in the near future, but when has this ever proven to be true? People suggested the same thing when we banished Redden to the AHL and it has never impacted our ability to attract free agents, as far as I can tell.

Philly traded both Richards and Carter before the NMCs kicked in on their new contracts. I don't think it impacted their ability to sign free agents.

There are a lot of reasons why some teams are more attractive destinations than others. A team trading a player they no longer want/need is probably pretty low on the list.

 

[Stephen Gionta]

The OP has a habit of posting semi-random trade proposals typically involving NJ players. This one is about two years premature. As you’ve noted teams shouldn’t look to move a noteworthy UFA signed recently if they don’t want the team’s reputation to take a hit. Beyond that you have the injury and my guess is Hamilton needs next season to reestablish himself. I think his trade protection drops to a 10 or 15 team list after 2026 so that’s the time to look into a trade if they want to. He’s not so old he can’t can’t recover from his injury and play at his usual level but this is way premature.

Is this not the forum to post things like this? I'm very sorry if it's not.

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

Not mentioning the fact that he suffered a potential season ending injury in the OP seems a bit disingenuous.

didn't realize that, hate that for him. the Canes losing him to a broken leg really derailed their season in 2019-20. Traded for replacements in Skjei and Vatanen but with the covid interruption they never were able to settle in that year and Dougie was absolutely dominating before the injury. He did return in the bubble playoffs but wasn't fully back up to game speed.

 

[HBK27]

This thread is way too premature.

Hamilton absolutely won't be dealt this season as he's out indefinitely and may not return this season. He also has a full NMC through next season, so it's doubtful they look to trade him before then either. NJ shouldn't have any issues with his cap hit as Mercer is the only player due a significant raise next season and NJ has $2.35M of dead cap space coming off the books this offseason plus the rising cap.

After next season, there's a decent chance they move him. If he's moved after his bonus is paid out in 2025, he'll be owed $14.65M over the final 3 years of his contract when he'll be between 32-34 years old. With his offensive ability, he should still have good/decent value even with a $9M cap hit, particularly for a team that could use him at their PP1 QB. He'll have a 10 team trade list, so he'll have a very large say in where he goes or even if he's dealt (if he doesn't want to leave), but between having Nemec, Hughes and even Casey ready at that point there's a good chance NJ would like to move him - especially with Luke Hughes due a new contract that season.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Dallas. Faksa + Lindell + picks for Hamilton + Lazar

I'd do that all day long.

 

[bleedgreen]

“Expendable”?

Nothing wrong with having an actual deep defensive group. There should be no need to move anyone before contracts have to be signed. Between now and then how about having a team with the “problem” of having enough dmen?

Also…..a little too much the shiny new toys. The two kids are still kids and it’s not like they don’t have anything left to learn. You’re competing for a cup right now, you need all hands on deck and as many vets as you can carry with such a young group. Dougie was great on the Canes with the young guys, I’m sure he’s great there. He’s very under rated that way.