Devilsfan118

https://theathletic.com/2738062/2021/07/29/the-best-and-worst-deals-from-the-first-day-of-nhl-free-agency/ The “Best” Deals There weren’t many Actually Good signings, but some were better than others enough to count and there were a number of cheap deals with some promise. Before we get to the trainwreck, here are some of the bright moments from the opening day of the frenzy. Dougie Hamilton: It’s not often the most lucrative contract of the day is the best one. Generally, there’s a good chance it’s the worst. That’s not the case with Hamilton who has long been underrated by Hockey Men everywhere and is now on a potential good value deal as a result. The fact he was paid $500K per season less than Seth Jones is truly bewildering given the past two seasons for both players. Hamilton is better than Jones. Full stop. There was maybe an argument for it before last season, but not anymore. I will not be listening to anything suggesting the contrary. At $9 million per, the expectation for Hamilton is to be a two-win defender through the life of the deal. He’s at 3.2 wins to start and should be worth 2.6 on average when taking his age into consideration, giving him a strong cushion to be worth his lofty price tag. He’s a unique player with only one comp so it’s hard to judge exactly how he’ll age, but that one comp is Brent Burns who was still pretty damn effective in his early 30s. There is a good chance public models overrate Hamilton’s impact and I don’t want to downplay that. But everywhere he goes and plays, he earns elite results and that’s been at both ends of the ice the last two seasons. Hamilton finished fourth in Norris Trophy voting last season and should continue to be in contention for the next few years. He’s a true No. 1 defenceman, an elite one at that, and that’s worth the price of admission here. Hamilton’s deal comes in with a surplus value of $18.8 million over the life of the deal leaving plenty of room for error if the model is indeed overrating him. It’s also far and away the most surplus value of any deal on the day. The Devils benefit greatly from an unfair and undeserved reputation. Hamilton is the real deal. Edit: I give up on formatting

Obvi

My hype cannot be contained by one thread

LET'S fvckING GO BOYSSSSSS HOLY sh!t!

Quiet is better than "talks have collapsed" I suppose. But yeah it sounded like this was a slam dunk earlier today.

The longer this goes the more nervous I'm getting

Cautiously optimistic today. Really hoping for news early so my whole day isn't ruined.

Friedman thinks we are the team to beat for Hamilton. Talks about it on the latest 31 thoughts podcast. Says a lot of the teams that would have been competing for his services are out due to the events of this past weekend. Trying....to... Keep... Hopes...in... check...

They must've been scouting unranked goals and discovered a bunch of gems with low-elite potential. I do this all the time in NHL Be a GM, seems like a solid plan to me.

I mean, Hamilton is sort of known as a more reserved person, right? One that perhaps wouldn't appreciate an obnoxious media market. We have money, we have an up-and-coming team, we have a smaller media following... worst sort of grilling he'll ever get are softball questions from Amanda. Makes a lot of sense to me. Trying to not get my hopes up.

Feel like the team that grabs Raty in the second round could look smart in a few years. Seems like a low risk / high reward type move in the 2nd round. Agreed that I don't see the Devils trading into the round.

Really makes you go "hmmm" when you realize Bergevin is potentially linked to all that stuff in Chicago right now.

....wow. huge reach.