LHD Reese Hamilton - Calgary Hitmen, WHL (2025 Draft)

[landy92mack29]

Smooth skating modern day dmen who moves the puck very efficiently and dominated prep this year as the top dman. Good size at about 6'0 but a bit lanky still so will need to fill out as he progresses, shot has good power on it already though. High IQ player who definitely likes to join the attack but picks his spots well. Not super physical but has moments where he throws hits and is very good at his gaps with a active stick. Expected to be a top 5 pick in the upcoming WHL draft and should be a name to watch for the NHL draft in a couple years. Has the makings of a ppg whl dman who can play in every situation....hopefully his progress keeps trending upwards.

Reese Hamilton - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Reese Hamilton, 2007-03-26 Whitewood, SK, CAN Canada. Most recently in the WHL with Calgary Hitmen. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

Click to read more...

 

[GermanSpitfire]

 

[landy92mack29]

https://x.com/TheWHL/status/1712305397938495495?s=20

was really good on the league champ Blazers last year in midget AAA and off to a strong start to his whl career with his first goal tonight. 4 points in first 7 games while probably being the 2nd best dman on the Hitmen after Yakemchuk.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

He's good. Steady player. Not "A" category at anything, but a lot of B's. Could see him being a late first round pick or early second round pick as a preliminary draft range.

 

[Bubbles]

1G, 4A tonight, finishes with 40 pts in 42 games. He's definitely one to watch for in 2025.

 

[mrshootthepuck]

Easily the best 2025 draft eligible out of the west for blueliners. Maybe Jackson Smith from TC does something but it's Hamilton's crown for now.

 

[BearQC]

From the current rankings, I believe this kid will be the steal of the draft

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Hugely slow start. What's going on?

 

[hockeykid87]

Word is he has left the team and asked for a trade. Guess he and the new coach didn't mesh well.

 

[landy92mack29]

Not sure if it's true he left and asked for trade but with how he's been treated by the coach I wouldn't blame him. He does need to be better regardless but in the 2 games I've seen this year of him he's looked good just snake bitten, plus 0 PP time which is a decision to make...

looked at his ice time and he's only averaging 17:48/game, usually high end draft dmen get 22-25 range. Last 10 games even lower at 16:14/game

 

[Steve Kournianos]

Hard to say what happened this offseason, but the Hitmen brought in Hurtig and already had Yakemchuk, so I thought that a better top pairing would be Hurtig-Yakemchuk and let Hamilton be the playmaker on the lefty-lefty middle pairing with Dax WIlliams. But they tried Hamilton-Yakemchuk to start the season and the former didn't play all that great, and the last game I watched he had different partners throughout. Turns out Hurtig-Williams was a solid lefty-lefty duo. Hamilton plays the left and right side and does it well, but the dip in scoring has plenty to do with him. He isn't skating the puck out as often, he isn't looking for open men off of the cycle, and the shots I see him take are mostly without a screen set up. My theory is he's slinging pucks just to beef up his advanced numbers because a high-IQ dman will always delay or go high to low instead of always settling for a low percentage shot.

I think he's a better positional defender than Kettles or Smith but he's not consistently physical and needs to pack on serious muscle.

FWIW, the Hitmen just acquired two RHD -- Kalem Parker (MIN) from Moose Jaw and BCHL'er Linden Burrett. Once Hamilton goes, the pairings could look like:

Aura-Yakemchuk
Hurtig-Williams
Pisarczyk-Parker
Burrett

With all due respect to Hamilton, the Hitmen should be a better team with that defense corps and any potential forward additions from trading him. He's a great skater and good in his own end but he's got work to do.

 

[hypereconomist]

Not sure if it's true he left and asked for trade but with how he's been treated by the coach I wouldn't blame him. He does need to be better regardless but in the 2 games I've seen this year of him he's looked good just snake bitten, plus 0 PP time which is a decision to make...

looked at his ice time and he's only averaging 17:48/game, usually high end draft dmen get 22-25 range. Last 10 games even lower at 16:14/game

Where are you finding TOI stats?