The Chicago Blackhawks need to acquire one of these 3 defensemen
1. Dougie Hamilton (Carolina Hurricanes)
Dougie Hamilton is the golden egg in this offseason for the Chicago Blackhawks. He is the prototype defenseman that they want to lead the defensive corps on the backend and he’s shown tremendous leadership, poise, and reliability in his 9-year NHL career.
Standing at a monstrous 6-foot-6 and 227 pounds, Hamilton uses physicality on the boards and finesse in the middle of the ice to play as one of the top two-way defensemen in the league. He has such great stick skills, skating, creativity, and lockdown capabilities that he could turn the Blackhawks from being a bubble Playoff team to Stanley Cup contenders in his first season with the squad.
As seen in defensemen like Connor Murphy and Nikita Zadorov, the Blackhawks are impartial towards larger blueliners to help keep the opposition at bay with a long reach and physicality. Apart from this though, what the former two defensemen lack is an offensive upside, which is where Hamilton thrives.
In the nine years he’s played in the NHL, he has registered 40 or more points in six seasons, with his last two coming in shortened schedules. On the power play, he is a skilled playmaker and a high threat player as he tallied 18 of his 42 total points last season on the man advantage.
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As far as cost goes, the pending UFA could drive a hard bargain and could expect to see an annual average salary ranging from $7.5 – $9 million on a multi-year deal. The Blackhawks have the space for a signing now that they have dealt Keith without having to retain salary, but it would likely require the team to lose some depth on either end of the roster. However, with the stakes as high as they are being the Chicago Blackhawks franchise, you have to go for gold and any of the three defensemen mentioned would help improve this roster significantly.