Tomorrow is the first day of free agency in the NHL and all of the big name players across the league will be looking to sign multi-million dollar contracts. One player that will not be on the market is defensemen Dougie Hamilton. The Calgary Flames and Hamilton have agreed on a six year deal worth a reported $34.5 million with a cap hit of $5.75 million. Calgary just acquired him during the NHL draft in a trade with the Boston Bruins; he was set to become a free agent tomorrow.

Last season for the Bruins, Hamilton scored 10 goals, produced 32 assists, with a plus/minus rating of minus three. Boston expected to make some major moves this offseason, but nobody expected them to trade away a key player like Hamilton. The good part about trading him for Boston fans is trading him to the Western Conference. There were reports that nobody in the locker room liked him and that he did not want to resign with Boston.

There is a lot to like about Hamilton on the ice, however. He is a great defender, has a great shot, and knows how to check. Give him a few years of growing and he will be a top two franchise defensemen when he reaches his full potential. Boston has a bad reputation with high caliber players in recent years, trading away players like Joe Thornton, Phil Kessel, Tyler Seguin, Milan Lucic, and now Hamilton.

Calgary must be happy that they signed someone like Hamilton to a long term deal. Hamilton is worth more then what they are paying him in his new deal and he must of wanted to take a pay cut to be with the Flames. With this deal now being done, Calgary has more room in the salary cap to make moves this offseason in free agency in order become a threat in the tough West come this upcoming season.

On the Hamilton side of things, it looks like he just wanted to get the deal done. He did not care about getting paid millions of dollars. Most young players take the money, but not Hamilton; he showed that he is a team first player with this new deal.

Hamilton will most likely will be on the first line defensive pairing with Mark Giordano, unless management decide to spilt them up. This would not be a bad idea but putting Hamilton on the first line with Giordano would be a deadly defensive core in Calgary for the next few years with Giordano being only 31-years-old.