The New Jersey Devils are going through it right now.
Their season, which started so promisingly, has completely unraveled after 15 losses in 22 games (7-14-1). They failed in their pursuit of uniting the Hughes brothers, and now it appears that defenceman Dougie Hamilton is on the outs.
New Jersey made headlines over the weekend by scratching Hamilton, one of the highest-paid defenders in the NHL at $9 million per year, against the Winnipeg Jets. His agent, J.P. Barry, told The Athletic on Saturday that “this decision is all about business rather than his game right now” as New Jersey seeks a shake-up. Hamilton re-entered the Devils’ lineup Monday against the Minnesota Wild, picking up two primary assists in New Jersey’s 5-2 win.
Devils coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters last weekend that Hamilton, 32, was simply “the odd man out” on the right side of the defence against the Jets.
“I don’t care about any of that stuff,” Keefe said, when asked if he scratched Hamilton as a way to compel him to ask for a trade.
Known primarily as a point producer, Hamilton has not shown up on the scoresheet much this season, with five goals and 12 points in 41 games. He is averaging 0.29 points per game — the fewest of his 14-year career by a wide margin. Over Hamilton’s first four seasons in New Jersey, he averaged 0.70 points per game — 13th among defencemen who played at least 200 games during that span.
However, Hamilton remains one of the league’s highest-volume shooters from the back end, recording 5.95 attempts per game. The shots are getting to the net, too: Hamilton has been on target on 49.6 per cent of his attempts, which ranks 17th out of 143 defencemen who have taken at least 100 shots.
The quality of Hamilton’s shot attempts, though, has diminished. He has taken a smaller share of his attempts from inside the slot (14.3 per cent) compared to last season (18 per cent).
When Hamilton exploded for a career-high 74 points in 2022-23, he did so on the back of the Devils’ power play, where he collected 28 points. That season, Hamilton averaged 3:05 of power-play ice time per game as the unquestioned quarterback of New Jersey’s No. 1 unit. But the emergence of Luke Hughes, who also counts $9 million per year against the salary cap, has led to a reduction of Hamilton’s role on the power play. (Four of Hamilton’s five power-play points this season came in October.)
Even though Hamilton has struggled to put up points, he still drives play at five-on-five. New Jersey has generated 53.5 per cent of the expected goals this season during Hamilton’s minutes, which is slightly better than his overall average since joining the Devils in 2021-22 (52.6 XGF%).
Hamilton has a modified no-trade clause that allows him to accept a trade to 10 teams, but Barry told The Athletic that he and Hamilton “will consider teams outside our list and other creative ways to get to a team that is mutually acceptable.”
On the most recent edition of “Saturday Headlines,” Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that Hamilton nixed an off-season trade to the San Jose Sharks. Perhaps Hamilton would reconsider it, now that the Sharks are in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race. San Jose’s stable of right-shot defencemen — Timothy Liljegren, Vincent Iorio and John Klingberg — does not necessarily strike fear into opponents, so Hamilton would probably take on an increased role there.
New Jersey is one of two teams that have multiple defencemen making at least $9 million per year, which seems untenable. The Devils have not used any salary-retention slots, which could help them find Hamilton a new home. (The Edmonton Oilers, who have Evan Bouchard and Darnell Nurse, are the other team with two $9-million defencemen.)
Although Hamilton no longer appears to be the offensive producer he once was, he can still be an effective player in the right situation.
“It’s a challenging situation,” Keefe told reporters Monday before the Devils defeated the Wild. “There’s a lot of it, I would say, that is outside of what we’re doing here. It’s more between (Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald) and (Hamilton’s) agent and those kind of things. But it’s my job to keep it internal and keep guys focused on the play here. So I expect (Hamilton) and any other player (who) has to come out of the lineup to be a good pro. This is professional hockey, and if you get a chance to go, you’re paid to play and perform, and that’s what I expect him to do.”
