New Jersey Devils: 3 Pros and 2 Cons For Signing Dougie Hamilton

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.

Con #1: Long-term contracts almost never work

Name a long-term contract that came before unrestricted free agency that worked. We can probably count on one hand how many contracts that exceeded five years that were worth the price of admission. Some blow up stupendously right off the bat like Jeff Skinner or David Clarkson. Others take a few years to be absolutely terrible like Brent Seabrook or James Neal. Being saddled with those contracts is literally an anchor on your roster. If he’s not injured, a team has to decide between buying the contract out or just sitting the player either in the owner’s box or in the minors, which is never good for team morale.

The Devils just got out of this situation and will be paying for it for years. Cory Schneider just never lived up to his contract, and the Devils bought out the last two years of his deal. It really hurt since Schneider was always a professional and injuries did more damage than anyone thought, but the reality is the Devils couldn’t keep that contract on the books while he provided nothing to the team.

That situation is a possibility for these long-term contracts. This is especially scary for a defenseman. Just look at Subban. He got a top-of-the-market deal back in 2014. He was really, really good for four seasons. He’s been bad for two seasons, and he was above average last season. Let’s say Subban has another season like the one he just had, then his contract comes down to four superstar seasons, two above-average seasons, and two terrible seasons.

If that’s what the Devils got from Hamilton, would it be worth it? Obviously, it would all depend on when those seasons came. If he’s a star for the next two seasons, where does that really get the Devils? They aren’t going to be a true contender next season, but will they be a true contender in three years, when according to this hypothetical he’s still a superstar?

It’s definitely a risk. It’s definitely a huge risk, actually. However, there needs to be a risk if a team is going to make a turnaround like the Devils want to do.

Pro #2: Hamilton shows the Devils can get a big free agent

There’s always talk that the Devils “can’t sign the big free agent”. Players “don’t want to come here” or they want to play in a “big market”. There are some very specific examples of this. The Devils went after Kevin Shattenkirk, and he chose to sign with the New York Rangers. Obviously, that doesn’t look like a bad move now, but at the time it hurt. Ray Shero said the Rangers offered more money, but who knows what is actually true. Also, the Devils gave a lot more money and a lot more term in an offer for Pat Maroon. He accepted much lower than his value to play in St. Louis (and he’s won back-to-back Stanley Cups, so he’s the winner here).

Hamilton choosing the Devils, even if it’s just because the Devils violently overpaid, shows that the Devils aren’t automatically a non-starter. Even if this is just a perception of the fans, they deserve a win after such a long stretch of terrible seasons. Winning the offseason doesn’t get you much, but with the right moves around it, it could mean something the next season.

Hamilton would have his jersey go up in lights. The owners would pull out all the stops to make his arrival to the Garden State feel like a big deal. They did the same thing for Subban two years ago, so doing it for Hamilton is a no-brainer.

The Devils need a win. They need a win for their fans, and honestly, they need a win for the organization. All the fans talk about is the constant mistakes, the “cheap” owners, the mistakes of the team Twitter account, and the fact that it’s been losing over and over again for close to a decade now. Now, at least they can at least dream of adding talent every offseason after getting the “big fish” in Dougie Hamilton.

Con #2: What part of the rumors are true?

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, right? Not necessarily, especially when it comes to rumors about famous people. However, that hasn’t stopped the Boston Bruins fans from absolutely hating Hamilton every time he’s returned to New England. The Bruins drafted Hamilton, but they eventually traded him so they could get a 2015 1st-round pick that they wouldn’t use to draft Mathew Barzal.

So, where is there truth, and what is pure fiction? There’s the rumor about his brother Freddie and Hamilton “demanding” whatever team he was on also getting his brother. We’ll see how much the Devils care about brothers when they use their fourth-overall pick at this year’s NHL Draft. Anyway, this Elliotte Friedman piece right after Hamilton was traded to the Hurricanes shows he does have some demands, but most of them seem to deal with his confidence in his on-ice play. If he signs with the Devils, he never has to worry about falling off the top line.

Looking at both of Hamilton’s trades, it’s not like he got traded for pennies. In one trade, the Flames gave up three picks to get him. When he went to Carolina, the Canes gave up Noah Hanifin, who was the top defenseman in his draft, and Elias Lindholm, who was a really good NHL player at the time. Now, the Flames also gave up Adam Fox, but that’s neither here nor there.

The main thing here is keeping Hamilton happy. Is he happy getting the biggest paycheck, or is it more than that? He hasn’t missed the playoffs since he was traded to the Hurricanes. Would being on the bubble bother him? Would he expect more? It’s hard to tell how he would gel, especially since this team is so young. However, he has a unique opportunity with the Devils. He could come in as the veteran voice behind Subban. That might be what he wanted all along.