How good could Hamonic get?

[JetsMetsIsles]

Hamonic is a top pairing defenseman already. I dont think he will ever be a top 5 Dman or anything like that but I love his potential. He's versatile. He is a big strong kid. He plays with toughness. He can handle the puck well and might one day improve his offense. I hope he stays an Isle for his whole career because he's an easy guy to root for.

Is he a surefire number 1 all around the league no. But people are too obsessed with numbering everyone. Hamonic and another Dman on par with his talents could make one of the best top pairing lines in the league.

 

[OlTimeHockey]

Hamonic is a top pairing defenseman already. I dont think he will ever be a top 5 Dman or anything like that but I love his potential. He's versatile. He is a big strong kid. He plays with toughness. He can handle the puck well and might one day improve his offense. I hope he stays an Isle for his whole career because he's an easy guy to root for.

Is he a surefire number 1 all around the league no. But people are too obsessed with numbering everyone. Hamonic and another Dman on par with his talents could make one of the best top pairing lines in the league.

Bingo. I don't care if Hamonic is the second pairing partner to Pulock and plays a hard nosed Scott Stevens game and never looks like Chris Pronger. The numbers matter to the stat junkies.

I want him hitting and controlling the zones and setting up forwards and stopping shots. If he compliments a sniper best? Great. We have a hard nosed guy and sniper to match the secondary or top scoring lines. If he's in the to pairing with Reinhart of Pulock or even Donovan? Number doesn't matter. What matters is three or four or five identities set with the on hand defense to match up to the need at hand - AND THAT CHANGES EVERY GAME, EVERY PERIOD.

That said, I like having a Hamonic. I like having a Pulock. I like having a Reinhart. I like having a goon who can play and having a smart stay at home or two. The collective defense was never better than when we had guys like KJ and Aucoin and Hamrlik as well as guys like Van Impe and Cairns in recent history. I wish we had a Witt instead of a Niinimaa.....because that would have been about the ideal BALANCE.

BALANCE is the biggest strength....not who fills one subjective categorized number or whatnot.

 

[A Pointed Stick]

Bump - I've seen a few people express some concern with Travis lately so I bumped this thread to give the discussion a landing spot.

I too have been less than happy with what Travis has shown this year. He had been on a trajectory pointed towards a future top pair player, but now I am not so sure. Physically he is the same guy. I could see him as a top end shutdown defenseman for the rest of his career, but offensively he proved out to be severely limited, more than I thought from other years. Obviously the coaching staff had him activating regularly because they all suck and should be barred from coaching cheese sandwiches let alone human beings tried to play an aggressive offensive game from the blueline, and it blew up in their faces. The one good thing I learned from this is that Travis is just not cut out to be a rushing defenseman, nor does he have much to offer as a PP specialist either. I am not saying he is bad, because he isn't AMac was bad. hamonic just has limits and when you push him past his limits it is too much for him. Watching him rush the puck and get trapped behind the opposition's goal, which is the last place you should get trapped when you are a defenseman, game after game in the beginning of the year just made me want to vomit. Then there was the poor play at times on the PP, and over use in general to be some bizarre meld of shutdown and #1 after Vis went down... It is just not his game. 39 GAs, and 33 TAs is kind of meh for how he is best used and it has been this way for a while. His numbers have actually improved a little every year but what they should tell the Isles is that he is not gifted in puck possession. Yet they seem hell bent on forcing him to be some form of an offensive defenseman.

I am going to throw this year in the trash for the entire team and especially for him, and hope that with the eventual rise of Pulock and I hope the addition of a real #1 that Travis can get back to being what he does best, which is being a physical PITA to opposing top lines, not pinching every 10 seconds. For every one time that works out, 5 other times it fails bad.

Anyone else feel about the same?

 

[PK Cronin]

Bump - I've seen a few people express some concern with Travis lately so I bumped this thread to give the discussion a landing spot.

I too have been less than happy with what Travis has shown this year. He had been on a trajectory pointed towards a future top pair player, but now I am not so sure. Physically he is the same guy. I could see him as a top end shutdown defenseman for the rest of his career, but offensively he proved out to be severely limited, more than I thought from other years. Obviously the coaching staff had him activating regularly because they all suck and should be barred from coaching cheese sandwiches let alone human beings tried to play an aggressive offensive game from the blueline, and it blew up in their faces. The one good thing I learned from this is that Travis is just not cut out to be a rushing defenseman, nor does he have much to offer as a PP specialist either. I am not saying he is bad, because he isn't AMac was bad. hamonic just has limits and when you push him past his limits it is too much for him. Watching him rush the puck and get trapped behind the opposition's goal, which is the last place you should get trapped when you are a defenseman, game after game in the beginning of the year just made me want to vomit. Then there was the poor play at times on the PP, and over use in general to be some bizarre meld of shutdown and #1 after Vis went down... It is just not his game. 39 GAs, and 33 TAs is kind of meh for how he is best used and it has been this way for a while. His numbers have actually improved a little every year but what they should tell the Isles is that he is not gifted in puck possession. Yet they seem hell bent on forcing him to be some form of an offensive defenseman.

I am going to throw this year in the trash for the entire team and especially for him, and hope that with the eventual rise of Pulock and I hope the addition of a real #1 that Travis can get back to being what he does best, which is being a physical PITA to opposing top lines, not pinching every 10 seconds. For every one time that works out, 5 other times it fails bad.

Anyone else feel about the same?

Yeah, absolutely. I never felt he had offensive upside and always thought he should be used in a shutdown role. Last playoffs he did a great job against Malkin and that's where he shines. Watching him skate around like he's Orr and then missing the net by 3 feet and getting caught isn't what I want to see from him. He's also awful at getting the puck on net through traffic. I don't mind or want to see him stop taking shots altogether, but he needs to be reeled in by the coaching staff and have him pay attention to the areas of his game that are actually important. Hamonic getting 2 more assists or goals a year isn't going to make or break us, while him being caught out of position because the coaches try to play this stupid system will.

Some guys have limited skills, and that happens to be Hamonic, so he needs to be utilized in a way that makes sense with the skills he does possess (which are very good).

 

[scott99]

He certainly did not build on that playoff like Okposo did, he went the opposite direction. I thought he has been pretty bad this year. Then again, I wasn't happy with his play prior to last years playoffs either. I was expecting him to be a McDonough type, at worst, a Girardi type. He has been neither. He has been a AMac type, without the offense. Speaking of offense, he should be fined everytime he tries to do his Bobby Orr act. All he does is try to skate end to end, then shoots the puck incredibly wide causing an easy breakout for the opponent. OR he gets his pass or shot blocked causing the same thing. Skate out of your own zone and shoot it in the corner once you get past the red line, or you get fined. That's how it should be. He is just horrible offensively. I don't mind pinching in when you're IN the zone already but enough of the skating end to end, he just plain sucks at it.

 

[bigd]

Bump - I've seen a few people express some concern with Travis lately so I bumped this thread to give the discussion a landing spot.

I too have been less than happy with what Travis has shown this year. He had been on a trajectory pointed towards a future top pair player, but now I am not so sure. Physically he is the same guy. I could see him as a top end shutdown defenseman for the rest of his career, but offensively he proved out to be severely limited, more than I thought from other years. Obviously the coaching staff had him activating regularly because they all suck and should be barred from coaching cheese sandwiches let alone human beings tried to play an aggressive offensive game from the blueline, and it blew up in their faces. The one good thing I learned from this is that Travis is just not cut out to be a rushing defenseman, nor does he have much to offer as a PP specialist either. I am not saying he is bad, because he isn't AMac was bad. hamonic just has limits and when you push him past his limits it is too much for him. Watching him rush the puck and get trapped behind the opposition's goal, which is the last place you should get trapped when you are a defenseman, game after game in the beginning of the year just made me want to vomit. Then there was the poor play at times on the PP, and over use in general to be some bizarre meld of shutdown and #1 after Vis went down... It is just not his game. 39 GAs, and 33 TAs is kind of meh for how he is best used and it has been this way for a while. His numbers have actually improved a little every year but what they should tell the Isles is that he is not gifted in puck possession. Yet they seem hell bent on forcing him to be some form of an offensive defenseman.

I am going to throw this year in the trash for the entire team and especially for him, and hope that with the eventual rise of Pulock and I hope the addition of a real #1 that Travis can get back to being what he does best, which is being a physical PITA to opposing top lines, not pinching every 10 seconds. For every one time that works out, 5 other times it fails bad.

Anyone else feel about the same?

Hamonic is best when he plays that nasty in your face defensive game. When he tries to play like Bobby Orr he fails miserable. He's not a PMD and we don't need him to be. Personally I don't like to see our D activating as much as they do. We have a good forward group and if you can move the puck up ice with a quick pass that's a better way to play. I blame our coaching staff for our defensive deficiencies. Amac is playing awesome in Philly but we thought he sucked.

 

[islesfan186]

He needs to play with the edge that he had in the playoffs ALL the time.
Also, he really does have 0 offensive ability. It's weird that his best offensive season was his rookie year

 

[Poliz24]

Hamonic is best when he plays that nasty in your face defensive game. When he tries to play like Bobby Orr he fails miserable. He's not a PMD and we don't need him to be. Personally I don't like to see our D activating as much as they do. We have a good forward group and if you can move the puck up ice with a quick pass that's a better way to play. I blame our coaching staff for our defensive deficiencies. Amac is playing awesome in Philly but we thought he sucked.

Thank you. We thought he sucked, because he got exposed for playing too many minutes. He really isn't all that bad when put in the right role. This year AMAC's situation was real bad because he was misused or over-used. He was playing a #1 role, when his skill did not translate to that role. I blame that partially on the GM for not having brought in anyone in the off-season and the coaching staff for not putting a player in the best scenario to be successful. As for hamonic, I am hoping he does turn into a #1 shut-down D-man. If the coaching staff feels he can't then don't put him in that role. I think hamonic can, but we need a whole new legit NHL coaching staff to help him develop into a #1 shut down guy.

 

[SLAPSHOT723]

I always thought Hamonic had 30 point potential. Now I think we'll be lucky to get 25 out of him in a season. That being said, if he's healthy for a full year he's still one of our more valuable defensemen, but his offense has disappointed me.

 

[bigd]

Thank you. We thought he sucked, because he got exposed for playing too many minutes. He really isn't all that bad when put in the right role. This year AMAC's situation was real bad because he was misused or over-used. He was playing a #1 role, when his skill did not translate to that role. I blame that partially on the GM for not having brought in anyone in the off-season and the coaching staff for not putting a player in the best scenario to be successful. As for hamonic, I am hoping he does turn into a #1 shut-down D-man. If the coaching staff feels he can't then don't put him in that role. I think hamonic can, but we need a whole new legit NHL coaching staff to help him develop into a #1 shut down guy.

If we only had a couple D men like Streit & Amac, and a #1 goalie we coulda been a contenda.

 

[Poliz24]

If we only had a couple D men like Streit & Amac, and a #1 goalie we coulda been a contenda.

It certainly would have helped.

 

[MattMartin]

If we only had a couple D men like Streit & Amac, and a #1 goalie we coulda been a contenda.

I agree this year we could have made the playoffs with Streit and maybe won a round or two. It's the next 3 years you would be regretting however.

 

[bigd]

I agree this year we could have made the playoffs with Streit and maybe won a round or two. It's the next 3 years you would be regretting however.

I think we are still going to be regretting the next 3 years even without him.

 

[PWJunior]

I think Seabrook is the closest comparable. During that Making of Team Canada video thing, one of the GM's (I think it was Chiarelli) who described Travis as a better skating Seabrook that doesn't see the ice like Seabrook yet due to inexperience - something along those lines.

I don't know if Hammer has #1D potential, but I think he'll be a very good #2/#3 type. Pairing him with a CdH or possibly Reinhart could be a long term top pairing guy that will eat minutes. Not too worried about him.

 

[Hipster Doofus]

I see him more as a Brooks Orpik. I really don't see big offensive numbers in his future.

Brooks Orpik has no stylistic similarities at all. But yes, both are human beings who play defense and hit people.

 

[13th Floor]

I'd say after the most Canadian off-season ever, the sky is the limit.

http://islanders.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=730052

 

[scott99]

During his rookie season, I thought he was gonna be the next PK Subban. He can skate, he was physical and tough to play against, and was able to produce offensively as a 20 year old rookie. He seemed to get away from all of that his second year, only to rediscover some of it in playoffs 2 seasons ago. But then it disappeared once again last season. I don't know what we have in Hamonic, it seems like when he plays physical he's at his best, but we don't see that side of him nearly enough. In juniors he reminded me of Dion Phaneuf as well. I think when it all comes down to it, if he doesn't play physical, he will be traded eventually especially with all of our defensemen prospects waiting in the wings.

 

[13th Floor]

During his rookie season, I thought he was gonna be the next PK Subban. He can skate, he was physical and tough to play against, and was able to produce offensively as a 20 year old rookie. He seemed to get away from all of that his second year, only to rediscover some of it in playoffs 2 seasons ago. But then it disappeared once again last season. I don't know what we have in Hamonic, it seems like when he plays physical he's at his best, but we don't see that side of him nearly enough. In juniors he reminded me of Dion Phaneuf as well. I think when it all comes down to it, if he doesn't play physical, he will be traded eventually especially with all of our defensemen prospects waiting in the wings.

I don't think he has the offensive instincts to be a PK Subban. Phaneuf is an interesting comparison though. Hamonic has been playing with AMac for pretty much his entire career. Those Hextally plots and WOWY numbers for Hamonic with and without AMac are like night and day.

I think this year will be very telling. He's 24, it's his 5th NHL season, and he will be playing a full season with the highest-IQ player he's ever played with consistently. Not to mention, CdH and Hamonic complement each other quite well. Hamonic will know his role on this defense and will be allowed to play it without being forced to add another element to his game.

 

[JZCislesHockey]

Hammer doesn't have to be an offensive defenseman, we drafted Pulock for that. Hell, De Haan is a very capable puck mover. On that pairing, all he has to do is hit everything that moves and play defense, aka his specialties.

 

[rikker]

i don't believe that he was ever considered a superior defensive Dman, but more of an all-around type. he was initiated into our lineup, and because of his decent size (and the fact that we were small along the blueline), was given the role of being defensive.

visually, it looked like AMac was dragging him down. stats would seem to back this up, and i think the best is yet to come.

i have no problems with him working on his offensive side, and feel like an apt comparison is Seabrook.