Why Trading Dougie Hamilton Was Good For The Bruins

I’m sure you think I’m crazy for saying it, and I would have agreed a few weeks ago, but trading Dougie Hamilton was good for the Boston Bruins.  One of the biggest things that plagued the Bruins roster last season was elite players not playing at an elite level.  For a perfect example, look no further than Milan Lucic.  His 18 goals and 44 points was his worst full season production in five years, but Lucic couldn’t take the blame alone. Numerous other players under performed as well which sent the couching staff and management scrambling trying to light a spark within the team.

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We can speculate exactly why so many key players didn’t live up to expectations, but one thing is for sure.  If you want a player to give 100% every night, they have to want to be there, and now that the trade is done and the dust has settled, it seems clear that Hamilton did not want to be in Boston.

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There were the nasty rumors that Hamilton didn’t get along with the rest of the team which I won’t bother to get into, but if you look at what happened in the days leading up to Free Agency,

made it very clear that Dougie Hamilton was a franchise player and the future of the Boston Bruins.

The Bruins offered Hamilton a 6 year, $33 Million dollar contract and it was reported that he wanted approximately $2 Million more per season.  It wasn’t until Bruins management realized that a deal wasn’t possible that they looked to get the highest return possible return via a trade.  Could the Bruins afford to pay Hamilton $7.5 Million dollars per season? Maybe, but that would have tightened the already limited remaining cap space desperately needed to fill the gaps in the roster.

Was trading Hamilton good for the Bruins in the short term? Of course not.  However, Don Sweeney let it be known that he wants guys that want to be here and he did just that when he signed Matt Beleskey and Jimmy Hayes.  Both have been extremely outspoken about how thrilled they are to be playing for the black and gold and this is the kind of energy Don Sweeney is trying to inject into the Bruins dressing room.  Will the Bruins squad be a better team than we had last season? It’s too early to tell because we still have some positions to fill, but Don Sweeney has done a good job trying to ensure the Bruins post-season absence was a one-time fluke.