He was ambiguous on whether he'd even be open to moving...constantly going back to the idea of wanting to stay here, wanting to come back here if he was traded.
In the end, a two-team list isn't much to work with. Especially when one effectively eliminated themselves from making an offer, opting for a forward they were familiar with in Ladd instead. And the other team directly opted for Kris Russell over Hamhuis, in large part...cited as being over a belief that Russell would be more likely to re-sign in big D (attributable in large part to Hammer's waffling on whether he even wanted to go). I don't resent Hamhuis for what he did, it was his choice to make. But you can't do anything about Dallas making a bad choice.
If they'd given him more time, waiting until Dan's kids were out of school for the summer, his wife ready to move maybe.
Unfortunately, that wasn't really an option at the deadline...
Even then, he hit the open market a few months later and chose...of all places, go figure...Dallas.
I don't even know how you could have really prepared Hamhuis to grapple with the idea of waiving his NTC earlier to "give him more time". The questions were already floating out there by the time he came back from his gruesomely broken face injury in February. You're not going to go to the guy sipping his Christmas dinner through a straw and ask him for a list of places he'd be willing to waive for and uproot his family before that.
I don't know why so many seem to have such a hard time accepting that there just wasn't a deal there to be made. As much as it sucks to not get some extra assets...sometimes that's just the way it goes.
It wouldn't surprise me if they ran into similar problems if it comes down to "selling off" this year as well. Hansen, Edler, Burrows, Miller as potential pieces to move...all with NTCs of some variety. If they're wary of moving, it makes them difficult to move.