FWIW I think Hamilton would be an awful forward so If you're going the way of trading him just get rid of him.
The only way I am "building around Hamilton" is if we move him to RW. Boston doesn't miss him one bit and in fact had their worst season with Dougie on their top pair after a President's Trophy season with Dougie on the second pair. Hamilton takes too many penalties which negates any possession advantage he has, and while he can shoot a wrister as well as anyone he is a pretty terrible passer from the point. Even if we didn't blow up our RHD ckmpletely I think
Gio-Brodie
Kulak-Hamonic
(LHS Stone replacement)-Andersson
would be a superior top 6 to what we have by virtue of discipline and pair balance.
Now maybe Hamilton could round out our forward group as he can carry the puck very well:
Gaudreau-Bennett-Hamilton
Mangiapane-Backlund-Monahan
Tkachuk-Jankowski-Ferland
Frolik-Shore-Lazar
But right now, I do not like our top pair (or our center setup - no team is going anywhere with Monahan down the middle. Chintzy point totals be damned). Gio-Hamilton does not pass the eye test now that their on ice SH% has normalized from last year. It is two talented individuals who don't play off each other or complete each other (well, Gio completes everyone), where good shifts get wasted with a bad penalty from a defenseman who can't be more patient, desperate, fundamentally sound. The excuses are over for Dougie. He defends with his arms and height, not his legs and mind. Kane owned him tonight, but every night he is dragging down our top pair.
FWIW I think Hamilton would be an awful forward so If you're going the way of trading him just get rid of him.
He is a great defenseman so not sure why would move him to forward at all.
If we are dumb enough to move him to forward might as well move him for a guy that is much more proven there.
He doesn't have the hands for it. It would add to he plethora of players we have already that can't enter the zone. I can't even imagine him playing forward aside from scoring off the rush almost all of his offense comes from the point.He is great on the forecheck, could score 30+ with that wrister of his, and impossible to take the puck away from. He could well be a similar caliber RW to Byfuglien and Burns.
Personally though I would look to package Monahan and Hamilton in a trade for Jack Eichel.
It’s called utilizing your assets. Moving Dougie up front potentially fixes our top 6, RW problem and it allows us to call up Andersson. Meaning someone likely Hathaway is likely out of the line up.
Just because you disagree with the move, doesn’t mean it’s stupid. Was SJ dumb for moving Burns up front? Dougie is a talented player and I don’t see any issues with moving him around in case there’s a fit there.
It’s called utilizing your assets. Moving Dougie up front potentially fixes our top 6, RW problem and it allows us to call up Andersson. Meaning someone likely Hathaway is likely out of the line up.
Just because you disagree with the move, doesn’t mean it’s stupid. Was SJ dumb for moving Burns up front? Dougie is a talented player and I don’t see any issues with moving him around in case there’s a fit there.
Baxterman comes from the Glen Gulutzan train of thought "Everything I haven't already tried must by default be stupid, so I won't try it."
I come from the Scotty Bowman train of thought that you don't move your young top pairing d-man to RW because you have a hole at right wing. I know it is a crazy thought that teams have repeatedly used to win Cups but I will have to stick with that thought and look at other ways that actually solve the problem.
Funny, Bowman was a guy who was willing to play a forward at defense to fill a hole. You most certainly would not have considered having Federov play anything but forward.
Burns the guy who had experience playing foreward at a high level? No not stupid but considering he is back at defense i don't think it was overly successful or a good justification why we would move a guy that has never played forward at a high level of hockey, doesn't show much fit at the position and is doing great in his current position now.
I think moving Hamilton to forward just shifts the problem from a top line RW to now needing a top 4 D and that is based on the small chance Hamilton works as a top 6 RW.
I don't think it is stupid because I disagree with it I think it is stupid because there are much better options to fixing our top 6 than moving Hamilton and because there is zero reason to think that Hamilton would make a good forward.
Since joining the Flames, Hamilton is 3rd in points/60 at 5v5 behind only the two Norris winners. He's also 5th in total 5v5 points
Use him more! He should be playing 26 minutes a game ffs
This team can't get out of it's own way. It has more than enough talent to win a bunch of hockey games especially in this ****ty division
You've got a 90 point forward, a 70 point centre, a low end selke caliber guy, a 60-point pace teenager, and a premier shutdown d-man and the next closest thing to Brent Burns plus even a top 5 goalie for most of the year and the team can't even win a game by more than a goal
Such a frustrating waste of a team with this much talent
Since joining the Flames, Hamilton is 3rd in points/60 at 5v5 behind only the two Norris winners. He's also 5th in total 5v5 points
Use him more! He should be playing 26 minutes a game ffs
This team can't get out of it's own way. It has more than enough talent to win a bunch of hockey games especially in this ****ty division
You've got a 90 point forward, a 70 point centre, a low end selke caliber guy, a 60-point pace teenager, and a premier shutdown d-man and the next closest thing to Brent Burns plus even a top 5 goalie for most of the year and the team can't even win a game by more than a goal
Such a frustrating waste of a team with this much talent
Agreed. It's hard to tell how much is lack of depth and how much is coaching, though. The bottom six is certainly no murderer's row, and although defensive depth should be good in theory, the 2nd pairing has struggled a lot (also Stone is still overrated and overplayed).Since joining the Flames, Hamilton is 3rd in points/60 at 5v5 behind only the two Norris winners. He's also 5th in total 5v5 points
Use him more! He should be playing 26 minutes a game ffs
This team can't get out of it's own way. It has more than enough talent to win a bunch of hockey games especially in this ****ty division
You've got a 90 point forward, a 70 point centre, a low end selke caliber guy, a 60-point pace teenager, and a premier shutdown d-man and the next closest thing to Brent Burns plus even a top 5 goalie for most of the year and the team can't even win a game by more than a goal
Such a frustrating waste of a team with this much talent
Gaudreau should play goalie.