We knew there were going to be surprises coming just before the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. I just don’t think we were expecting to see this grace the internet this afternoon though.
The @NHLFlames acquire DougieHamilton from @NHLBruins for 15th, 45th & 52nd picks. http://t.co/WWZDNmcKrz #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/L4gkwE0GS0
— NHL (@NHL) June 26, 2015
Yikes.
Dougie was with Boston for three seasons, appearing in 178 NHL games. He ended up with eighty-three points(22 goals) with a combined plus-23 rating. Last season, he led all defensemen in points.
My first thought on this is how can the Boston Bruins claim that they’re building for the future by trading their best young (and supposedly franchise) defensemen for draft picks? Yesterday I congratulated the Boston Bruins front office for making a smart move. They recognized they couldn’t keep Soderberg, and Don Sweeney was able to get back a lost draft pick to move his rights to Colorado. (Soderberg signed a 5-yr, $23.75 mil deal earlier today.)
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From what I can tell, the Boston Bruins were never really serious on signing Hamilton. It looks like they were waiting for an offer sheet to come down the pipe in order to move him for the most draft picks possible. If this was their plan, then the first and two sound round draft picks they just received were better than what they could have gotten from an offer sheet that wasn’t offering over $7 million a year.
In that slim regard, the Boston Bruins made the right call.
The Boston Bruins just lost their best young defenseman. They gave him up for draft picks. You can almost close your eyes and pretend that it’s the Toronto Maple Leafs making a move like this.
The goal of a NHL team is to win the Stanley Cup. You can’t win a Stanley Cup with draft picks. If you could, then the Edmonton Oilers would be the powerhouse team in the league. The defensive core has not improved, and this trade will only make it worse.
This was Don Sweeney’s first major move as a general manager, and I’m afraid he’s set fire to the TD Garden. The Bruins had one bad season, and they’re taking the Toronto approach to fixing it.