Bruins Send Dougie Hamilton to Calgary

Today, there was talk the Arizona Coyotes could add Dougie Hamilton for the third overall pick. That race appears to be over, as reports are surfacing the Calgary Flames had traded for the former ninth overall pick.

Going to the Boston Bruins in exchange for their stud restricted free agent is the Flames first round pick, the 15th pick in the draft. This means the Bruins now own the 14th and the 15 picks.

The Bruins have now lost every piece they acquired when they traded Phil Kessel to the Toronto Maple Leafs- Tyler Seguin, Jared Knight, and Hamilton, all gone via trade. In exchange for those players, remaining on the Bruins roster is Loui Eriksson and Reilly Smith.

The Bruins were projected to be one of the busiest teams, and now they have lost their two big free agents in Hamilton and Carl Soderberg. There is speculation the Bruins are still hard after the Coyotes third overall pick, and that some of these picks acquired with possibly Milan Lucic could get that deal done.

Boston will only receive a first round pick and two second round picks. Historically, the Bruins have struggled with the draft outside of top ten picks. Unless they can snag that third overall selection, there isn’t much to be excited about in Boston.

It remains to be seen, but it sure looks like it will be a bridge year in Boston after they missed the playoffs in 2014-2015. One of the only possible explanations for this trade from the Bruins standpoint is that they have another deal in place. Chicago, Toronto, and Edmonton should be active leading up to the draft.

Calgary, meanwhile, if they do retain Hamilton, have one of the best offensive defenses in the NHL with Mark Giordano, Dennis Wideman, and TJ Brodie.

Meanwhile, the Bruins remain a collection of older players with bad contracts while their young players move on. They don’t have much going on in their minor league system and have struggled to develop players. Unless some of these players they draft are productive and ready to play in the NHL right away, this sure looks like a loss for Boston.