If the New Jersey Devils were hoping disgruntled defenseman Dougie Hamilton might change his mind about a trade and subsequent move to the San Jose Sharks, it would appear that is, still, not a possibility.
Hamilton, 32, was reported to have blocked a trade to the Sharks this past summer, exercising his contractual rights to remain in New Jersey and forcing the Devils to honor his negotiated 10-team trade list.
Although the Sharks have been much better than expected this season and are firmly on the rise, spearheaded by youngsters like Macklin Celebrini, Yaroslav Askarov, Will Smith, Igor Chernyshov, Michael Misa, and more, San Jose is still San Jose for Hamilton. No go.
Hamilton's agent, J.P. Barry of CAA Sports, told Max Miller of Sharks Hockey Digest that he's "not even sure [a trade to the Sharks] still exists as a possibility anymore.
"It was last summer that there was interest."
In short: the Sharks have all but moved on by now, and Hamilton isn't going for it anyway.
The Sharks were in the market to add salary, having picked up the contracts of the injured/retired Carey Price and Ryan Ellis to keep themselves above the salary cap floor.
It helps, of course, that their young but generally shambolic defense needed reinforcements, but San Jose GM Mike Grier instead pivoted to the likes of John Klingberg with Hamilton off the table.
As for the Devils, it is, obviously, unclear where things go from here, especially after Barry and Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald traded veiled shots at each other through a third party in NHL insider Pierre LeBrun over the team's decision to sit the affable 6-foot-6 defenseman, with the former accusing New Jersey of choosing cap hit and business over on-ice performance.
The 32-year-old Hamilton has three years remaining on his contract, including this season, at a $9 million cap hit and is owed just $6.25 million in base salary across the next two seasons. At the same time, though, Hamilton is also due to collect $17.95 million in signing bonuses in those two years.
Someone, if not the Devils, will be on the hook for two of Hamilton's cheaper two years on the hefty seven-year deal he signed back in 2021, but a solution to the dire situation is not readily apparent.