{"id":400591,"date":"2026-01-11T01:01:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T01:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/400591\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T01:01:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T01:01:10","slug":"keefe-sends-message-to-hamilton-devils-d-man-scratched-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/400591\/","title":{"rendered":"Keefe Sends Message to Hamilton; Devils D-Man Scratched"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the New Jersey Devils<\/a> continue to seek answers for what Sheldon Keefe labeled a \u201ccrisis\u201d amid poor play, the head coach is starting with benching his star defenseman.<\/p>\n

Dougie Hamilton<\/a> worked on the fourth-pair alongside<\/a> Colton White during New Jersey\u2019s Saturday afternoon practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cDougie\u2019s the odd-man out,\u201d Keefe said initially, with Johnathan Kovacevic<\/a> potentially returning to the lineup on Sunday against the Winnipeg Jets alongside Jonas Siegenthaler.<\/p>\n

Asked to elaborate, Keefe said, \u201con the right side, with [Simon Nemec] coming back in, we want to give him an opportunity to get his game going. Brett Pesce<\/a> isn\u2019t going anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Hamilton\u2019s place on the top pair was Kovacevic, who Keefe explained brings a game he prefers as opposed to Hamilton, which he revealed when prompted on whether sitting New Jersey\u2019s $9 million defenseman was in an effort to get him to waive his no-trade clause.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t care about any of that stuff, I\u2019m putting a roster together, a lineup together. I like what Nemec brings, and I think we need more of what Kovacevic brings at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

If nothing else, Keefe is sending a message to the Devils star defenseman, who is tied with Luke Hughes<\/a> as the highest-paid player in New Jersey, for his poor play this season.<\/p>\n

Following Saturday afternoons practice, Hamilton declined to speak to the media.<\/p>\n

The Devils star defenseman is in the center of NHL trade discussions, and is believed to have nixed one trade already by utilizing his no-trade protection.<\/p>\n

In December, Hamilton declined to answer a Devils trade<\/a> question regarding if he was approached to wave his no-trade clause, reinforcing his desire to remain in New Jersey. <\/p>\n

On the ice, Hamilton\u2019s had a rough season. In 40 games this year, he\u2019s netted five goals and 10 points. He\u2019s on pace for 10 goals and 20 points in 81 games.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"avatar\"<\/p>\n

\t\tJames is the New Jersey Devils beat reporter for New Jersey Hockey Now on Sportsnaut and the PHWAs New … More about James Nichols<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the New Jersey Devils continue to seek answers for what Sheldon Keefe labeled a \u201ccrisis\u201d amid poor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400500,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[201,3723,1294,5,1771,151,886],"class_list":{"0":"post-400591","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hockey","8":"tag-devils","9":"tag-devils-news","10":"tag-dougie-hamilton","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-johnathan-kovacevic","13":"tag-new-jersey-devils","14":"tag-sheldon-keefe"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115873768060520058","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}