Tyler Durden
Registered User
- Sep 18, 2009
- 2,600
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Player Discussion: Travis Hamonic
- Thread starter Tyler Durden
- Start date
SLAPSHOT723
QU! Bobcats!
He has always been a work in progress, but the big change from last year, which was practically a setback year, to this year, which has been a watershed year, is he is obviously not being asked to take on a more offensive role. Someone somewhere in this organization saw the writing on the wall and let him drop back into his best role as a physical defensive defenseman. What we see here is the result. Can he still add more offensive flavoring to his game? Sure, but smaller doses than before. His focus should be on dropping the hammer on the best forwards coming into the zone. This year he has done a really good job of it. If he isn't in your top 5 of favorite Islanders this year, re-examine your list because he should be.
JZCislesHockey
Registered User
Hamonic is going to be a Johnny Boychuk type in his career. Solid #2/Excellent #3 shutdown guy. Love him.
PWJunior
Stay safe!
In the making of Team Canada Olympic Team video, one of the GM's compared Hammer to Seabrook with better skating and not as experienced. I think it was Chiarelli. Looks like he's tracking that way.
I don't think he will ever have that offensive ability, but I do think Hammer will be as good as Seabrook defensively. Hamonic has been excellent this year, and has really carried that second pairing.
Every team would want Travis but only one team has him. You win cups with Hamonic type players. Boychuk has really taken him under his wing.
I'll take it! He seems a lot more cool and confident with the puck this year - both in tight spaces and on the breakout. He's carrying the puck in to the offensive zone a fair amount but he also seems to be conscious of getting back to his position - more so than de Haan does.
He's under a great contract too. That is a tremendous help when trying to sign Johnny Boychuk long term.
It is a little high but not out of the ballpark for a physical defensive defenseman. I would no more tell Hamonic to dampen his game down than I would tell Pronger or Stevens to. He isn't taking himself off the ice with 5 minute fighting penalties which was a problem earlier in his career.
IMO, this is an example of stats gone a little overboard.
I think that's fair, and I'm not sure I would tell him to change his game either. But it's something to keep an eye on considering how terrible we are on the PK.
Here are other guys with a penalty differential as bad or worse than Hamonic. Not exactly great company, and he's on the lower end of games played.
Dustin.Byfuglien |D| WPG| 51| 35| 16| -19| 1161| -0.016365202
Steve.Downie |RL| PIT |44| 43| 26| -17| 568.9| -0.029882229
Andrew.Ladd |L| WPG |51| 23| 6| -17| 1013.5| -0.016773557
Jay.Harrison |D| CAR/WPG| 37| 21| 5| -16 |639.8| -0.025007815
Scott.Hartnell |L| CBJ |43| 28| 13| -15| 773.4| -0.01939488
Kevin.Bieksa |D| VAN| 45| 26| 11| -15| 950.4| -0.015782828
Andrej.Meszaros| D| BUF| 34| 15| 1| -14 |605| -0.023140496
Alex.Chiasson |R| OTT| 44| 17| 3| -14| 671.2| -0.020858164
David.Clarkson |R| TOR |51| 25| 11| -14| 733.2| -0.019094381
Mark.Stuart |D| WPG| 40| 20| 6| -14 |770.3| -0.018174737
Travis.Hamonic |D| NYI |39 |20| 6| -14| 839.4| -0.01667858
crashthenet
Registered User
Worse when he's in the box. That said, I am unsure about the value of this "stat".
He's a solid 2/3 at this point although his decisions with the puck in the o-zone need to be a little better.
Buffy and Phaneuf have worse pim per game numbers too.
I know it is tempting to underline the fact our PK is **** which makes any penalty that much harder, but I think you know what my answer to that problem is. We have a team loaded with cerebral/high end players. A - get tougher because our guys are easy to play against on the PK, and B - coaching needs a change.
- May 17, 2011
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The Underboss
Registered User
As was stated above, he does take too many penalties compares to how many he draws, however that is really the only downside I can come up with. He only continues to improve, plays very strong in his own game, and has developed a stronger offensive presence as well. He played an excellent all around game last night.
Hamonic is a great #3 guy not a top pairing guy really, but a great #3...his offensive games has improved tremendously this year even if the numbers dont show it, getting into the attack and making things happen. He has had a great season now that he doesn't have A-Mac dragging him down.
CupHolders
Really Fries My Bananas!
- Aug 8, 2006
- 7,495
- 5,793
I'm curious... Does anyone know how many pp goals were scored with Hamonic in the box? As one of only two physical defenders on the team... It might explain one of the reasons for a poor PK.
rockhouse15
Registered User
- Jul 23, 2011
- 669
- 0
Hamonic is the kind of defensemen you wish you could draft every time in the second round. Good size and toughness to help clear the crease and work the corners in the defensive zone but has the speed and skating ability to stay with the quicker forwards in the league. He has a toughness both from his physical style of play and willingness to drop the gloves if he needs to. Not easy to find a RH 6'2" good skating defenseman that can chip in with 20-25 points a year, hit, fight, kill penalties, and I guess be a point man on the powerplay. Plus what he does off the ice and the stuff he has had to overcome in his life is pretty remarkable.
Now for the less than remarkable parts of his game. He does take a lot of penalties but we are tied for fifth fewest minors as a team so its not like we are hurting our PK by being down a man to much. His CA/60 and FA/60 are either last or second to last on the team in terms of their top 6 d-men. Though it should be noted that we have some elite shot suppressors on our blue line (all six regulars are top-60 in the league in terms of FA/60 for the 165 d-men who have played at least 500 5 on 5 minutes). His penalty killing hasn't been that good for a guy who is seen as a good defensive defenseman and has gotten worse every year from a 5.7 GA/60 his rookie year to 11.6 GA/60 this year as compared to Calvin DeHaan who has a not great rate of 8.8 GA/60 this year. His FA/60 at 5 on 4 has been somewhat flat since it went up his second season and his terrible SV% on the PK (78.6%) can help explain why his numbers are so bad this year.
All in all, obviously not a number one guy but if he's your 3 or 4 and your number two RHD with Ryan Pulock in the wings, your blue line is in pretty good shape.
Now for the less than remarkable parts of his game. He does take a lot of penalties but we are tied for fifth fewest minors as a team so its not like we are hurting our PK by being down a man to much. His CA/60 and FA/60 are either last or second to last on the team in terms of their top 6 d-men. Though it should be noted that we have some elite shot suppressors on our blue line (all six regulars are top-60 in the league in terms of FA/60 for the 165 d-men who have played at least 500 5 on 5 minutes). His penalty killing hasn't been that good for a guy who is seen as a good defensive defenseman and has gotten worse every year from a 5.7 GA/60 his rookie year to 11.6 GA/60 this year as compared to Calvin DeHaan who has a not great rate of 8.8 GA/60 this year. His FA/60 at 5 on 4 has been somewhat flat since it went up his second season and his terrible SV% on the PK (78.6%) can help explain why his numbers are so bad this year.
All in all, obviously not a number one guy but if he's your 3 or 4 and your number two RHD with Ryan Pulock in the wings, your blue line is in pretty good shape.
I think he is fine as a #2 defenseman, but he isn't a #1, atleast not yet. Lets remember the guy is still only 24, just a kid by nhl defenseman standards. He has taken huge steps forward since last season, and he is the guy I want on the ice in the last minute up by a goal. He is our best defenseman IMO, and he is absolutely our best player in the defensive zone.
His biggest problem is getting his shot through to the net. It seems like its always getting blocked. If he gets better at that he can be a #1 defenseman.
TommytheCat
Registered User
GrandmaSlices51631
Registered User
Just curious what you guys think Hamonic's offensive ceiling is. He still is young and he chipped in offensively in his WHL days. He's been shooting a lot more and I think his production will go up. I don't see him ever scoring a ton of goals, but I could see him chip in 30 Helpers a season...
First Blood
The Greiss Is Right!
MBossy22
Registered User
I like Hamonic , Like mentioned he's a real good #3 right now. We have to remember he's only 24 years old.
I think the addition of Boychuck has really helped Travis. Learning from a guy like that night in and night out is huge for a young player. I'm excited to see Travis' game continue to progress.
I think the addition of Boychuck has really helped Travis. Learning from a guy like that night in and night out is huge for a young player. I'm excited to see Travis' game continue to progress.
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