Flyers Need To Go All In On Dougie Hamilton

Fletcher’s Pursuit of Dougie Hamilton

Now, while Hamilton makes a lot of sense for the Flyers, it is worth mentioning that Elliotte Friedman, one of the most respected hockey reporters in the industry, stated in his weekly “31 Thoughts” blog this past week that while he thought the Flyers would be one of the teams heavily interested in Hamilton, he believes Philadelphia is looking more heavily at other options outside of Hamilton.

"“There’s going to be a lot of interest. As news broke Monday, teams started their Hamilton research. I thought Philadelphia might be among the more aggressive pursuers, but the Flyers’ defensive targets seem to be elsewhere.”"

Does that mean that Chuck Fletcher and the Flyers aren’t interested in Hamilton at all? Not necessarily. But the fact that Hamilton is regarded as the most prized defenseman of the upcoming free agency period, and with good reason, and the Flyers don’t view him as their top target is something to be concerned about. However, the Flyers have their sights set on other players and Friedman did mention in his article a few names that could make sense.

"“Philadelphia’s got a lot of balls in the air. I figured they’d be in on Hamilton, but, as mentioned above, he doesn’t appear to be their top target. I’m speculating here, but my guesses would include Seth Jones and Matt Dumba (who GM Chuck Fletcher knows very well). It also wouldn’t be a shocker if they have asked the Coyotes about 2019 first-rounder Victor Soderstrom. The Flyers liked him at that draft, and Arizona actually flipped picks with them to move up and take the Swedish defenceman.”"

Jones is an interesting situation in that Philadelphia would definitely have to trade for him. Meanwhile, Hamilton will likely be acquired via sign-and-trade (similar to Kevin Hayes in 2019 from Winnipeg to Philadelphia). He could still just as easily test the open market in free agency should Carolina not extend him an offer before July 28. Jones certainly has a lot of offensive talent, though his defensive abilities leave more to be desired but he’s certainly an option worth exploring and he could perhaps fit as well.

That being said, the Flyers would be doing themselves an enormous disservice if they didn’t at least throw their hat into the ring for Hamilton. This is the best opportunity to bring a defenseman to Philadelphia that will have a presence we haven’t felt since the days of Chris Pronger and Kimmo Timonen, who don’t necessarily share stylistic similarities but showed fantastic ability at both ends of the ice.

The Flyers’ Top Priority

It has become increasingly clear with each passing season that Provorov isn’t the top, shutdown defenseman we all hoped for. In addition, Sanheim and Myers are just background characters in a cast of Flyers players who can contribute decently but won’t be game-changers. Cam York is still incredibly far away from reaching his peak even though he showed glimpses of his talent at the end of 2020-21. Gostisbehere could easily be claimed by the Seattle Kraken in the expansion draft and is not a good all-around defender despite his offensive abilities.

Dougie Hamilton could very well be the saving grace of the Flyers’ blue line, and while the team has a multitude of issues to fix, finding a top defenseman should be at the top of Chuck Fletcher’s priority list. Hamilton is a right-handed shot who can provide tremendous offense and solidify the back end for one of the worst defensive teams in the league in 2020-21.

This is the Flyers’ opportunity to put to rest the notion that big-time players don’t want to come to Philadelphia anymore. This is their opportunity to give the fanbase real hope in acquiring a top name in a position of need to get everyone excited about the team. This is their opportunity to reward the core of this franchise with an elite player that can bolster the group back into the postseason and take the next major step in contending for a Stanley Cup. If the acquisition of Dougie Hamilton by the Philadelphia Flyers does not come into fruition this offseason, the organization will have failed.