What should all NHL player’s want above all? The answer should be to win. Not “best dressed” like Willie “Styles” Nylander in Toronto, or “most knuckles broken with own skull” like that freak across the Hudson, but the Stanley Cup. While the money (of which plenty is handed out either way) is nice, 99.9% of players are here because from the day they picked up a hockey stick, they have dreamt about winning the Stanley Cup. For the Devils, there is one major road block impeding their route to the Stanley Cup, Dougie Hamilton.

Hamilton’s cap hit of $9m in step with his lackluster play, inability to stay healthy and of course, 10 team no move clause, is the reason Quinn Hughes is not a Devil. Yes, Minnesota’s package for Jack and Luke’s brother would have been hard to beat but it likely would have never even been presented if, for hypotheticals, Dougie never existed. The inability and stalling needed as Tom Fitzgerald tried to contort this roster/cap in order to acquire Quinn, bought Billy Guerin and the Wild time, and with that extra time they took a shot. Would acquiring Quinn even address the Devils main needs? Not entirely, as the Devils issues revolve around ineffective and often silent scoring depth, small-ish size, grit, and for lack of better words…BALLS. While the puck is one of the most important thing in hockey, it’s balls that win Cups. 

Adding Quinn, would clearly boost offensive production through puck possession, increase in power play efficiency and adding a major bolt of adrenaline that this team so desperately has needed. Now that that is off the table, names like O’Reilly, Stamkos, Schenn, and Kadri have floated around, however the Hamilton dilemma remains a block. At this point, the cap-strapped Devils will not even be able to return Jonathan Kovacevic to the lineup unless considerable money is freed up.

The 32 year old defenseman has just eight points in 33 games this year and has not looked great in doing so. Both foot speed and brain speed seem to be diminishing rapidly for number 7. A reluctancy to shoot is also a noticeable trend since the pectoral injury a few years back. Overall you cant blame Fitzgerald on this one. When Hamilton signed in NJ we were all excited and it was one of the first major FA signings in recent team history, putting the Devils on the map as a destination for UFAs. Just three years ago Dougie had 74 points and played in all 82 games. All of that seems like decades ago, as the injury plagued Hamilton has only played in 117 games over the past three campaigns. 

While they would never say it, is Hamilton’s unwillingness to accept trades that will better the Devils and their chances of contention having some type of affect on Devils player’s psyche? Or do the players respect the fact that Hamilton had earned his NMC through his commitment and success to the game over the years? 

Either way, as Quinn Hughes would put it; both the players and management need to “sack up” real quick, or this will be another wasted opportunity for New Jersey.