Can Devils Get Dougie Hamilton’s Goal
Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Season joined TSN Radio in Montreal on Monday and was asked what is going on between the New Jersey Devils and Dougie Hamilton. Pagnotta said that when they tried to sell him, the Devils wanted to return with the goods. Especially the scorer.
Writing for NHLRumors.com
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Host: “Okay, before we let you go, you should try to make sense of what’s going on in New Jersey and what’s going to happen with Dougie Hamilton.”
Dave Pagnotta: “Look. They tried. This goes back to last season, where they were exploring the possibility. They explored it again in terms of the draft, and they thought they had a deal with the Sharks. And then, he wasn’t willing to do that, which was the first week of July.
They waited for his bonus to be released, and it happened. Now he’s got another big bonus, $7.4 million, something like that, which he has to pay on July 1. Then a million dollar salary, and then next season, the last year of his contract, he’ll only make $5.25 million. So financially, it is beneficial for many teams, and some teams may still insist that they are interested in waiting until July, which puts them in a very difficult position, the Devils in terms of their desire to make changes.
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But obviously, with his agent coming out, and telling Pierre LeBrun where things are, and they’re open to expanding their roster. Now, their roster, I was told, was strategically stacked to make it more difficult to trade him. And I think the reason why they’re willing to say that we’re able to step back from that list and explore other options is just because of how creative they got with that list.
I think he will be moved this season, even with that bonus in July. It’s just a matter of them, obviously, getting the right deal. Because at the same time, this is not just a player they want to get rid of for nothing. They want to return a certain amount. Yes, the price comes with freeing up $9 million in cap space.
First, I don’t think they’ll be able to release a full pop in season right now, but giving them some breathing room, I think, is a possibility. But at the same time, they want to return some assets to this business. This is not just a dumping ground. So, or at least that’s the perception going around the league right now.
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So we’ll kind of see where Tom Fitzgerald goes with this. But they want to free money. They want to bring in someone who can help them score. They have struggled in that department, which is surprising given the roster.
And part of the reason why we started hearing Dawson Mercer’s name out there quite a bit. It’s been teams trying to scout to see if they can get him out of there, because everybody doesn’t trade.
But with Dougie Hamilton specifically, I think there’s a path to an agreement with the team, but again, New Jersey just doesn’t want to give up. They want to return this boy’s property.”
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