{"id":476476,"date":"2026-02-28T05:09:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T05:09:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/476476\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T05:09:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T05:09:21","slug":"mammoth-interested-in-dougie-hamilton-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/476476\/","title":{"rendered":"Mammoth Interested In Dougie Hamilton \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Add the Mammoth to the list of teams that have kicked the tires on Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton<\/a>, says David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Whether the feeling is reciprocal remains to be seen. Hamilton has a full no-movement clause accompanied by a 10-team trade list. That extensive trade protection already nixed a deal that would have sent Hamilton to the Sharks<\/a> last summer. Nonetheless, Pagnotta adds that while \u201chis agent is trying to help facilitate a move\u201d and that he\u2019s \u201copen to exploring options outside of his preferred list,\u201d his market isn\u2019t particularly fervent. The Maple Leafs had some interest, but their recent slide has likely taken them out of the buying conversation<\/a>, especially in terms of taking on a player with a steep cap hit like Hamilton\u2019s $9MM. San Jose still has some degree of interest, according to Pagnotta, but it\u2019s unclear whether Hamilton has changed his tune on a move there.<\/p>\n

While Hamilton\u2019s initial cost is pricey, he only has two years left on his deal and will be a UFA in 2028. The cost of entrance will take many playoff hopefuls out of the picture, especially if the Devils aren\u2019t keen on retaining salary, but that type of structure works for a team like Utah that has loads of present cap space, some money coming off the books this summer, and no big-ticket RFAs to negotiate with until after Hamilton\u2019s contract expires.<\/p>\n

Talks apparently slowed regarding Hamilton<\/a> last month after fellow righty\u00a0Luke Hughes<\/a>\u00a0exited New Jersey\u2019s lineup with a shoulder dislocation. With the Devils well out of the playoff picture and Hughes close to returning, though, they should be more willing to re-engage in conversations. Hughes\u2019 absence has opened the door for Hamilton to get reps as New Jersey\u2019s top power-play quarterback once again, though, and he\u2019s delivered a 2-5\u20137 scoring line in his last 10 as a result. The Devils are hoping that\u2019s boosted his stock to some degree, although his 22 points in 54 games this season are still on track for his worst offensive showing in over 10 years.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s understandably a sign of concern for a defender on the wrong side of 30 whose offensive acumen was always his selling point. It\u2019s also a testament to just how consistent a producer he\u2019d been up to this point, though. From 2014 to 2025, Hamilton averaged 16 goals and 52 points per 82 games and finished top 10 in Norris Trophy voting four times. It\u2019s now been three years since he received any award consideration, and his output has been on a somewhat consistent decline since a left pectoral muscle tear limited him to just 20 games in the 2023-24 campaign.<\/p>\n

Still, for a playoff hopeful in Utah that\u2019s being held back by a relative lack of depth scoring and a bottom-two power play, Hamilton\u2019s fit would be natural as an established, successful PP1 option. Any concerns about his defense should be quelled by a system under head coach Andre Tourigny that\u2019s consistently held possession control since the franchise\u2019s inception last season, controlling 53.7% of shot attempts and 53.6% of scoring chances at 5-on-5 this year.<\/p>\n

It could also come with a relatively low acquisition cost, depending on how desperate the Devils are to clear the bulk of Hamilton\u2019s money. They likely would have been willing to take less for him earlier in the season when they were still in the playoff conversation and were looking to boost their cap flexibility to make additions. The latter is still likely a long-term priority, but is no longer a pressing short-term concern with them on a five-game losing streak and 13 points out of the playoff picture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Add the Mammoth to the list of teams that have kicked the tires on Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1294,5,151,4,3154],"class_list":{"0":"post-476476","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-dougie-hamilton","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-new-jersey-devils","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-utah-mammoth"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116146534250830096","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476476","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=476476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}