While a deal ultimately could benefit both sides, the New Jersey Devils shouldn't be looking to trade Dougie Hamilton. Not yet, anyway.
Hamilton, 32, chose the Devils in free agency in 2021 when he certainly didn't have to. Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald and Co. sold him on the project, and he signed because he believed in the project.
For as long as he can still play at a high level and do what's needed of him, the Devils should afford Hamilton the chance to see the project he signed up for through to the end.
The reason all of this trade talk picked up in the first place is that fellow defenseman Luke Hughes needs a new contract as an RFA, but the Devils have only $6.9 million in cap space to make that happen.
And it's not going to happen unless they can come up with at least $1 million more, give or take.
Trading Hamilton has its benefits, too. The big-ticket free agency signing has a booming shot, gets around the ice well enough for being 6-foot-6, 230 pounds, and is generally a strong proprietor of offense both on the power play and at even strength.
Other NHL teams will covet those contributions enough to be willing to pony up roster players, a top-six forward, high-value draft capital, and/or perhaps a combination of all three for Hamilton's services.
The Devils, on the other hand, badly need a top-six forward and, more generally, better players in the bottom-six. But is that worth jettisoning one of your most impactful players, and one who helped start the end of the dark days of the NHL's basement?
It would be a real shame if the Devils pigeonhole themselves into doing such a thing to address holes they themselves created.
For example, the Devils signed Ondrej Palat in 2022 with the hope that the two-time Stanley Cup champion could serve as a foil to Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier and be a top-six contributor as he was in Tampa Bay.
But, despite mainly playing with Hughes and Hischier, Palat has managed a total of 34 goals and 72 points in three seasons in New Jersey.
The five-year, $30 million contract Palat signed with the Devils has aged exactly the way everyone said it would the minute the ink dried on the page.
And if the Devils have to pay the price for it, they would more than likely do so by parting ways with a vastly superior player, whether that player is Hamilton or someone else.
Almost three weeks removed from the opening of NHL free agency on July 1, Fitzgerald and the Devils must work dutifully to ensure that this does not become the case.
If it does, losing Hamilton could erode the last bit of good faith management still has from the loyal and increasingly impatient Devils fanbase.