NHL Trade Rumors: Should the Flyers Pursue Dougie Hamilton?

The Philadelphia Flyers still have one of the worst, most ineffective power plays in the NHL, but they can get the boost they've been looking for by taking advantage of another team's plight.

Among the Flyers' most consistent issues on the man advantage has been the quarterback, or lack thereof; players like Travis Sanheim, Cam York, Egor Zamula, Jamie Drysdale, and Rasmus Ristolainen have all run units to varying degrees of success.

But, that position has been a revolving door for a reason. Inconsistency and a lack of results just perpetuate the issue, and the Flyers have no defense prospects in the system capable of alleviating it.

So, if there are no youngsters or in-house solutions available, what's the next step? That's going to be a trade.

On Saturday, the New Jersey Devils and head coach Sheldon Keefe made the move to bench star defenseman Dougie Hamilton in favor of the now-healthy Johnathan Kovacevic, who is expected to make his season debut after successfully recovering from knee surgery.

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Hamilton, 32, has now, evidently, fallen behind Kovacevic, Brett Pesce, and Simon Nemec in the pecking order, but his agent, J.P. Barry, has fired back at the Devils for this.

Barry told TSN's Pierre LeBrun that the Devils are making this decision based on business and not Hamilton's performance, and even went as far to say that he and the player will be flexible to facilitate a trade outside the 10-team trade list.

Hamilton and his $9 million cap hit can only be traded to a third of the NHL for the remaining three seasons, including this one, on his contract, which makes things prohibitive for both sides.

It's unclear if the Flyers are on or off Hamilton's trade list, but there should be some interest coming from Philadelphia regardless.

At the time of this writing, the Flyers find themselves sitting pretty at ninth in the NHL standings.

Rasmus Ristolainen just returned from injury, Trevor Zegras and Dan Vladar look like studs, and Matvei Michkov is due for some positive scoring regression at some point.

If the Flyers want to make a move that should benefit them now and in the near future, why not move for Hamilton?

The 6-foot-6 defenseman has 28 power play points in his last 124 games despite losing his featured role to Devils teammate Luke Hughes, and Hamilton is just two injury-marred seasons removed from a career year that saw him explode for 22 goals, 74 points, and 28 power play points in 82 games.

The Flyers, who already have Ristolainen, York, and Sanheim, will not need to force-feed the offensively-oriented Hamilton minutes at 5-on-5, but they can give him as much ice time as he wants on the power play.

At 32, Hamilton wouldn't have to move himself too far away by going from Newark to Philadelphia, and he would still have the opportunity to lead and play on a competitive young team.

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The Flyers' $13.6 million in cap space is more than plenty to facilitate such a trade, and they'd have to give up little assets to pull it off considering that the Devils, in their financial situation, are at the mercy of the Flyers and other inquiring teams.

Through 42 games, the Flyers have scored just 18 power play goals, which ranks 31st in the NHL. Their overall conversion rate of 15% is equally bad and seats them 30th in the league, and that cannot remain if the Flyers are to truly push for the playoffs and then compete in the playoffs.

Buying low on Hamilton allows them to address a general need for depth on defense while giving a player with the firepower they need some motivation and a fresh start.