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Carolina Hurricanes

Hurricanes to Extend Hamilton Before Start of 2020-21 NHL Season

According to NHL.com, the Carolina Hurricanes aren’t planning to wait long to get defenseman Dougie Hamilton signed to a new contract.

According to Tom Gulitti of NHL.com, the Carolina Hurricanes aren’t planning to wait long to get defenseman Dougie Hamilton signed to a new contract. While the blueliner has one more season on his current deal, Hurricanes GM Don Waddell wants to get an extension done sooner than later. In fact, there’s hope the steps towards a new contract will start in the next few days.

Related: Hurricanes Have Been Trying to Trade Defenseman Jake Gardiner

Waddell told Gulitti that the team hasn’t spoken with Hamilton about an extension yet, but plans to when Hamilton arrives back in Carolina later this week. The idea is to get a deal done before the season starts and put to rest any speculation the team might move the player in a trade.

Hamilton has been traded twice in his NHL career so far and there was talk the Hurricanes might consider moving him in a deal as they made some changes to their blue line this offseason. The team already moved Joel Edmundson and let Trevor van Riemsdyk and Sami Vatanen leave in free agency.  

There will certainly be some questions as to what the Hurricanes can afford and potentially the team is trying to avoid him taking a sizeable jump over the $5.75 million he’s currently making. If he has a big season, he’ll likely command a lot more at the end of the year.

Dougie Hamilton Carolina Hurricanes
Dougie Hamilton Carolina Hurricanes

Extending Hamilton Would Give Hurricanes Depth on D

The team already has a relatively deep blue line and keeping Hamilton in the fold will only cement that corps as one of the NHL’s best. The organization has Jaccob Slavin, Brady Skjei, Jake Gardiner, Brett Pesce, and Haydn Fleury all under control for at least three more seasons. Not only that, but Jake Bean is going to be ready in a couple of seasons.

One thing that the team may need to consider is how they fit Andrei Svechnikov’s likely massive raise into the mix once the Hamilton extension is done.

Next: Canucks Have Work Cut Out For Them With Elias Pettersson Extension

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