The Calgary Flames had high hopes for this season, but so far it’s been a complete dud.
Over the weekend, the Flames became the first team in the league to lose 10 games. Only Arizona has accumulated less points in the standings (the ‘Yotes have played two games less) in 2016-17.
Like any team that underachieves, the Flames could opt to shake things up in the near future.
They’ve parted ways with veteran defenseman Nicklas Grossman on Sunday, but that isn’t a major shakeup.
On Hockey Night in Canada, Nick Kypreos mentioned that the Flames were taking calls on Dougie Hamilton. Two of the teams that have inquired are Pittsburgh and Arizona.
“It’s part of the game,” Hamilton said of the rumors, per the Calgary Herald. “I think every deadline, every draft and all that stuff, there are always rumors. There are so many rumors and stuff, and I don’t know how much of it is true or anything, right?
“I’m happy here and I want to keep helping try to turn this around for the Flames, so I can’t look into that stuff. It’s just a distraction, if anything.”
Calgary has a lot of money tied into their defense, which makes it an easy target for a potential change.
Hamilton, in particular, comes with a cap hit $5.75 million through the 2020-2021 season and he just isn’t playing well enough right now.
In his first season with the Flames, Hamilton 12 goals, 31 assists and a minus-14 rating in 82 games. This year, he has two goals and six points in 16 games, but both those goals and one of the his assists all came in the same game.
In Saturday’s loss to the Rangers, he was on the ice for three even-strength goals-against and in his last four games he’s posted minus-3, minus-2, minus-2 and minus-3 ratings.
If the Flames really are willing to listen to offers for Hamilton, now probably isn’t the right time to part ways with him. He’ll still fetch a solid return, but pulling the trigger on a deal right now wouldn’t be maximizing his value.