Sorry for not posting this earlier (been really busy at work). But for some insight into the Dougie Hamilton contract negotiations suggest listening to the Two Man Advantage (Scott Burnside and Pierre LeBrun) version of the multi-headed The Athletic Hockey Show podcast dated July 29 featuring an interview with Dougie's agent, J.P. Barry. Dougie's contract discussion begins around the 26:30 mark.
Barry kind of glosses over some of the details, but sounds like New Jersey was targeted early as "we identified early on that they had a need" and he further notes "turned out they were interested". So sounds like initial contact might even have been from the agent to the team.
When asked if it helped having all that time before the deadline to talk with teams he replied "no, not really" and further notes that Carolina was "frustrated" by it coming down to the end before the deal came together. Primary reason for the delay, per Barry, was waiting for the market price to be set, which the Seth Jones deal (represented by his partner, Pat) established.
Once they then had the basic 7 x $9M target deal set, then the rest of the time went into negotiating the details of the contract so it wasn't front-loaded, which turned out to match the team's desires, per Barry. Lots of back and forth about how the signing bonuses vs. salary for each year to match league guidelines for how such contracts must be structured. But seems negotiations were with one team only. Sort of match the market price guys and he's yours.
In fact, when asked if his phone rang from other teams while those details were being worked out he said "not really". And also added that once he had the basics of a deal with a team he didn't really do that.
So, sounds like to me that New Jersey was identified early by the player/agent, they were interested, a basic contract framework was established ("We'll pay list price"), list price was established by the Seth Jones contract, and the cash flow was then negotiated over a period of a couple of days.
Doesn't sound like it was shopped around. Doesn't sound like the Canes were in it at all. Doesn't sound like any other team was really in on it at all. And, in fact, we heard nothing about any other team really being interested and/or the agent playing off New Jersey's interest against any other org, including the Canes.
But give it a listen and see what you think. Kind of explains a lot if this is indeed the way it went down.
The Athletic Hockey Show podcast (July 29, 2021)