The New Jersey Devils are rumored as one of the teams that could go after Dougie Hamilton. It sounds pretty obvious. The Devils have a ton of money available to them, they really only have two defensemen worth protecting in the Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft, and their need for a star defenseman is bigger than anything on this team. Hamilton makes the Devils interesting almost immediately. After seeing a lot of their young players exceed expectations last season, now it’s time to fill the holes on the roster.
It’s obviously not a slam dunk when giving any player a massive contract. The Carolina Hurricanes are reportedly letting Hamilton talk to other teams in order to get the max contract that isn’t allowed in free agency. If the Devils were to sign Hamilton in free agency, they could give him a maximum of seven years. If the Devils have the Hurricanes sign him to a deal and then trade for him, they can sign him to an extra year.
There’s obviously some risk here, but the upside would be better than any risk, right? Let’s take a look and you can be the judge.
Pro #1: Hamilton makes this team much, much better
Let’s start with the obvious. Dougie Hamilton would be the team’s top defenseman. He is one of the top defensemen in the league, but he’d be worlds better than anyone else on this team. The Devils really need one defenseman to fill out the roster if they re-sign Ryan Murray (which they probably should).
The Devils need a top-of-the-roster defenseman. They thought they might have one in P.K. Subban when they traded for him, but it didn’t work out. Ty Smith is a good player on the top line, but he’s probably not one of the 40 best defenders in the league at this point. He’s close, but he’s not there yet. Hamilton is not only there now, but he should be there for a while.
The Devils have the money to spend, and they might be forced to spend this money depending on who the Kraken take in the expansion draft. If the Kraken take Subban, then the Devils have to spend a lot of money just to hit the cap floor. They could overspend on free agents who come here for whatever reason, or they can break the bank for a star. Not many teams can make the kind of commitment the Devils can with a flat cap. It’s time to make it happen for the star.