While I do hate that, you also have to consider Hamhuis will likely insist on a NMC. We can't give him one because we'll need to protect Edler, Tanev and Gudbranson. So unless Hamhuis steps down from a NMC or agrees to a single year, we literally can't sign him.
I HIGHLY doubt Hamhuis would be insisting on a NMC this summer. Limited NTC maybe, but that doesn't affect the expansion draft.
Could have just signed a 1-year deal with a full NTC (not NMC) with the promise of another year afterwards. I think Linden and Hamhuis have a close enough relationship for them to be able to hash that out with a handshake agreement. That way expansion has no impact on the situation.
Ehh. It'll really depend what we get out of Gudbranson. If I recall, he got partnered with Willie Mitchell in Florida. That's... a death sentence. If he can play at a solid second pairing level, we're better off with him than a year or two of Hamhuis. Much as I love the guy, he's very near the end of his career.
Except we paid a premium for Gudbranson and Hamhuis is free.
And why does Hamhuis take a one year deal with us without exploring his options elsewhere? If Dallas offers 4.5/3yrs, then he's better off taking that deal than hoping injuries don't catch up to him.
Because it's obvious he's desperate to stay here because of family/community reasons.
So now you guys are clamoring for Benning to sign aging vets on the decline. Predictable.
I personally would have like Hamhuis resigned cheap and Sbisa moved out, but just like Jovo, Ohlund, Salo, and Mitchell before him, sometimes you have to let guys walk. Good luck to Hammer, but I'd have no interest in anything longer than 2 years and even that gets dicey with the expansion draft coming.
People wouldn't be upset if:
1) We got something for him at the deadline
or
2) His replacement isn't a terrible player in Sbisa that is making similar money
Another factor people are neglecting: Ben Hutton. He single-handedly pushed Hamhuis to the third pairing. So not only would we be asking him to sign for less than he'll probably get on the market, he'll be getting third pairing minutes. I can't say I'm surprised Hamhuis is exploring his options.
Hutton had a very promising year but to say he was already better all-around than Hamhuis is not true. Maybe it'll happen this upcoming season, but he could hit a bump in the road just like a lot of other young players do just as easily.
We were hoping GM's would ignore his injury, the fact he wasnt 100% healthy, and his season-to-date for those 7-8 solid pre-TDL games and memories of past season play.
The Hamhuis trade possibility died the day he got injured. As posted at the time he got hurt.
We know at least Chicago and Dallas were interested and a few more in the East that Hamhuis wouldn't waive to.
The injury didn't kill the deal.
Hamhuis gave the Canucks a list of 2 teams and Dallas chose to go with Russell instead. They apparently circled back but we don't have any information as to what the circled back offer was except Benning said it didn't make sense. Maybe Dallas wanted the Canucks to take on a contract? And quite frankly if you were discussing a similar deal with Dallas to the Calgary deal then they chose to acquire Russel instead and then came back and said well we are still interested in Hamhuis but we can only offer you this significantly worse deal would you take it? At some point, you have to say forget it. No deal.
It seems some fans fail to grasp the concept of players signing contracts with full NTCs and feel like they should be traded before their contract ends and is mad when that does not happen.
The fact is that Benning did a terrible job of trying to work out a deal.
Like others have said, it's clear he has no negotiation ability in trades.
Look at what Holland did with the Datsyuk contract... figured out a way to give away 7mil cap for free.
A good GM figures it out. Every time Benning makes a bad move (which is almost always) apparently it's not his fault because his hands were tied for one reason or another.
Excuse after excuse.
Time to let him go.
We'd have too many, especially with one (or more) of Juolevi, Stecher and Subban
Players that are years away from the NHL (or might not even make it at all) should have no impact on this signing.
Especially because it'll likely be a shorter deal and they are apparently ruining the rebuild in a stupid attempt to make the playoffs.
Letting Hamhuis walk would be a complete rebuild mode. It'd be easier to swallow if all the other moves they made followed suit, but it's a directionless mixed bag. If Hamhuis is considered too old and it's time to transition into the next core, that's totally fair. But get a draft pick for him, get draft picks for other players, and don't trade away draft picks. Don't do one thing that feeds the rebuild and then do other "win now" moves.
