The Calgary Flames have locked up defenceman Dougie Hamilton to a six-year deal worth $34.5 million.
Hamilton’s annual cap hit will be an affordable $5.75 million, making him the highest-paid player on the Flames.
Hamilton was acquired in a trade with the Boston Bruins last week in exchange for a 2015 first-round (15th overall) and two 2015 second-round picks (45th and 52nd overall).
The 22-year-old was a pending restricted free agent, who scored 10 goals, 42 points in 72 games last season.
Hamilton was drafted ninth overall by the Bruins in 2011 and has 22 goals, 83 points in 178 career regular-season games.
The Flames boasted one of the best blue-lines in the NHL last season and the addition of Hamilton improves it further.
In addition to Hamilton, the Flames have captain Mark Giordano, Dennis Wideman, TJ Brodie, Deryk Engelland and shot-blocking king Kris Russell. A formidable group to say the least.
“Abundance of talent is never a problem,” Flames head coach Bob Hartley told the team’s website last week. “It might cause us a few extra grey hairs every once in a while when giving responsibilities, but I think it will bring great competition within our locker room and it’s going to create even more accountability. I think it will allow us to distribute the ice time to where we are going to get the full potential out of everyone.
“Sometimes if you need to play defencemen 30 minutes a game, you can’t be full intensity for 30 minutes a game. I don’t believe that it’s humanly possible. I think that you need to pace yourself in certain parts of the game. With the addition of Dougie, we had a good blue line, but I think it got more solid.”
June 30, 2015
Calgary Flames
