With only five games remaining in the 2020-2021 season, another season of Flyers hockey is about to come to a close. A team that made it within one game of the Eastern Conference finals this past summer will fall short of making the playoffs this season. It’s time to shift the focus towards the offseason.
It was clear throughout the shortened 56-game regular season that one of the Flyers most glaring holes was on defense. The Flyers, through 51 games, have allowed 182 goals against, which is tied for dead last in the NHL with the Buffalo Sabres. While that obviously doesn’t all fall on the defense, a big part of it sure does.
The Flyers biggest need this offseason is to acquire or sign a top tier, or at least top four, defenseman who can help with that glaring hole the Flyers have on defense. It’s time to put yourself in Chuck Fletcher’s shoes and play Flyers general manager.
If I’m Chuck Fletcher, the big hole on defense has to be addressed if the Flyers want to improve that glaring number of 182 goals allowed through 51 games. It’s at the top of the ‘to-do’ list this offseason. A right-handed defenseman would be ideal.
With Ivan Provorov already playing on the left side of the top defensive pair, it makes sense to get a right-handed shot who can play the right side and complement the Flyers workhorse.
In this instance, if I’m Chuck Fletcher, I’m looking at unrestricted free agent defenseman Dougie Hamilton this offseason. He’s a right-handed shot who can play on that top pair with Provorov and help settle things down defensively.
Following this season, after spending the last three seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes, Hamilton is set to become an unrestricted free agent. The Flyers won’t be the only team in the market for a guy like Hamilton, but they should definitely be in the mix.
Hamilton is only 27-years-old but is already playing in his ninth season in the NHL. So at at only 27, Hamilton can already be considered a veteran defenseman. He’s been apart of three teams in the Boston Bruins, the Calgary Flames, and the Carolina Hurricanes.
In 603 regular season games in the NHL, Hamilton has registered 339 points. He’s scored 105 goals and assisted on 234 others. Through 51 games with the Hurricanes this season, Hamilton has registered 40 points, scoring 9 goals and assisting on 31 others.
Hamilton can rip it with the best of them. He’s got a hard shot. He could man the point on the powerplay for the Flyers as well.
He’s not a stay at home defenseman by any means. He’s known for being involved offensively. He’s by no means an irresponsible defenseman either though.
Since the start of the 2017-2018 season, among defenseman who have played in at least 100 or more regular season games, Hamilton ranks 61st in the NHL with 21:31 minutes. Not counting Matt Niskanen, who hung up his skates following the playoffs this past summer, only one Flyers defenseman who is currently apart of the Flyers organization has more total time on ice per game than Hamilton during that span. His name is Ivan Provorov, who is 8th in the NHL in total time on ice per game during that span with 24:46 minutes.
The seasoned, but young, defenseman would be a perfect fit to play on that top pair.
On the defensive side of things, Hamilton can use his stick to break up plays because of his size. He’s listed at 6’6, 229 lbs. Despite being such a big guy, he’s a pretty good skater as well.
Being that big, you’d think Hamilton would be a guy that would throw is weight around quite a bit. That’s not so much the case. He’s registered only 48 hits so far this season through 50 games. Flyers defensemen Robert Hagg (96), Justin Braun (69), Phil Myers (61), and Ivan Provorov (53), have both registered more hits than Hamilton this season.
That shouldn’t deter Chuck Fletcher from trying to lockdown the 2011 first-round pick though.
Statistics aside, what might be one of the biggest reasons for signing Hamilton may just be the fact that it will hopefully get Ivan Provorov back to the level of play he was at in 2019-2020 playing alongside Matt Niskanen. When Niskanen played alongside Provorov, the 24-year-old defenseman looked at his best. It almost looked as if there was a weight lifted off of his shoulders. Hamilton would help with lifting some of the weight that’s been put back on Provorov’s shoulders since Niskanen decided to retire following the playoffs this past summer.
Now lets get into the financial side of things.
Hamilton is in the last year of a six-year, $34,500,000 contract that he signed with the Calgary Flames back in June of 2015. His current cap hit with the Hurricanes is $5,750,000. There’s no reason to think that Hamilton’s next contract will be any less expensive.
He’s only 27-years-old and still has a lot of hockey left to play. Not to mention teams drool over defenseman that can contribute on both ends of the ice. Hamilton fits that bill.
If Fletcher does decide to sign Hamilton this summer, he’ll likely lock him up for the somewhat long-term. If I’m Fletcher, I’m signing him to a four or five-year-deal. Anything more then that is a little too risky.
Long-term contracts haven’t always necessarily worked out for the Orange and Black.
If Fletcher was to hypothetically sign Hamilton to a five-year deal worth $40,000,000, the cap hit would be at least $8,000,000. That’s a pretty reasonable cap hit for a guy that could potentially help steer the Flyers defense in the right direction.
The Flyers likely wouldn’t have a problem with that either in regards to cap space.
With the upcoming expansion draft this summer, cap space will become available once the Seattle Kraken decide who they want to draft from the Flyers. If you factor in the fact that the remaining cap space will go towards signing a backup goalie and the Flyers restricted free agents, then it doesn’t look so bad.
Locking up a very talented defenseman in Dougie Hamilton this offseason would be a good start in terms of righting the ship for a Flyers team that took a step in the wrong direction this season. This, of course, is only hypothetical though. Will the real Chuck Fletcher please stand up?
