Recent reports reveal that Carolina Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell has noted the team and defenseman Dougie Hamilton will hold off on getting a contract extension done for now. The two sides have agreed to table contract extension talks until the season is over and they will tackle what to do with the pending UFA at a later time.
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Waddell notes, “We’ve had many talks, we talked again last weekend.” He adds, “You know, Dougie wants to stay here. We’ve talked to him, we love Dougie, we want him to stay here. He fits in well with our team, our coaches like him.” But, the team has lots of other business to attend to and it’s not a priority to get the deal done immediately.
The Hurricanes are wrapped up in a tight race for first place in the Discover Central Division. Their focus right now is on winning and making the playoffs. There is plenty of time to talk more in the offseason with Hamilton, who will be a free agent and can field offers this summer. The Hurricanes (21-7-3) are second in the Discover Central Division, three points behind the first-place Tampa Bay Lightning.
Waddell said, “I truly think Dougie wants to stay here. We’ve decided that it would be best for both us to just wait until the end of the year, let’s sit down and see if we can hammer out a deal, put it on the back-burner so Dougie can worry about playing hockey at this point.”
Not The Only Deal Waddell is Working On
Hamilton’s contract will be a priority for Waddell, but it isn’t the only extension he’s got to take care of. There is a hefty contract for Andrei Svechnikov that will need to be addressed and Seravalli says the Hurricanes’ GM believes the team is close to a contract extension for head coach Rod Brind’Amour.
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