New Jersey wants to free up Cap Space, but Hamilton can wait
The Fourth Period’s Dave Pagnotta joined Steve Kouleas and Jason Strudwick on Sirius XM NHL Network on Thursday. He was asked about the New Jersey Devils and their plans for Dougie Hamilton after Luke Hughes’ injury.
NHLRumors.com Transcripts
NHL Rumors: Dougie Hamilton and New Jersey, and Rasmus Andersson and Boston
Jason Strudwick: “Dougie Hamilton has had an off-season offensively. He’s had some injuries, or an appetite, or a pretty strong appetite in the NHL, and the belief that he’s better than he’s shown, had two years left at $9 million in an interest to acquire this player with maybe just a little bit more money, sorry, just take over his contract at more than maybe a return.”
Dave Pagnotta: “I think from the other side of things, like I don’t, I didn’t get the sense that New Jersey just wants to get rid of him completely. They want something back. Yeah, they definitely want to free up space. It might be a little different now, with what happened with Luke Hughes, and he’s on LTIR. They want to figure out exactly what his final timeline is in terms of playoff potential or not.
So there’s a little more flexibility on that side of things now, at least for this season. Even before that, I never really felt like it was just the $9 million and run, or like, if we could free up five, that’s it. They want to clear the piece. But they will have to bring something back. Moreover, this is an asset. And you’re right: There are teams around the league that still see him as someone who can help their defensive corps.
And that the way he has performed this season has been a bad year for him, and he can go back to it under different circumstances, away from the distractions. And really, the distraction for him has continued all summer. I mean, it was talked about around the draft. Obviously there was the deal that didn’t happen with San Jose in July that carried into the season, where we started the year in October, we started hearing his name again. So we hear it. He certainly hears it.
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And that has consequences for the player. So I’m giving him a nod this year in terms of performance right now because of the distractions he’s dealing with. A change of scenery would probably do him justice. But what kind of player is he? Is he a first pair, right side, second pair, right side? Third pair, right side. I think a lot of people see him there, at that mid-level level right now, and there’s certainly still value in that.
NHL Rumors.com Note: While the New Jersey Devils keep getting calls about Dougie Hamilton Luke Hughes being out of the Olympics changes a lot for a team trying to reach the playoffs. Yes, General Manager Tom Fitzgerald wants to free up cap space and add to the club, but not at the cost of missing the playoffs. He still believes his team is a playoff team.
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Hamilton’s agent, JP Barry, joined Donnie and Dahli and said he would check back with the Devils to see where the teams were standing and what their plans were in light of Hughes’ injury.
The Devils are playing better and Hamilton has provided six assists since his scratch. Could the $7.4 million signing bonus play a role? There are still a lot of moving parts. The Devils wants something in return for Dougie Hamilton. They don’t want to weaken their team right now.
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