2016-17 Report Card: Freddie Hamilton

Freddie Hamilton (Centre/Wing) - Midseason Grade: D-

Our Individual Grades

Samwell9 (C)

For a 13th forward that rarely gets into games, Freddie is fine. At his age, he is not a prospect so you can easily scratch him without having to worry about messing up his development, but he is competent enough that he can come in and play a depth role whenever he is needed. I honestly think he would have contributed more on a regular basis than Lance Bouma or Troy Brouwer did, but he did not get the same opportunities those players did. No reason to not keep him around in the same capacity for next season, especially at his salary.

MarkParkinson14: (D)

Apparently I’m the hardest on Freddie Hamilton. I just don’t see what he brings to the table when he’s out there. Yes, he’s a 4th line player at best, but I guess if you’re going to play Freddie Hamilton, you could always call up a younger prospect and see what they have to offer. Hamilton’s 26 games were a career high and he collected 2 points in his limited time on the ice. To me, Freddie Hamilton is a take it or leave it type player. I won’t do handstands if he’s back and I won’t do them if he’s gone.

FlamesMM: (C+)

Apparently I’m the nicest on Freddie. I’m not exactly sure what I see in him but at certain points watching him play this season I thought he had the potential to do more. He’s a fine depth forward and brought energy whenever he was inserted into the lineup. He’s the definition of meh. He’s under contract for next year but whether that will be in the NHL or AHL level remains to be seen, but I’d rather see him being scratched than a prospect being scratched and him in the AHL. Has some decent characteristics but I would be surprised to see more than what we saw this season.

HockeyGoalieEh: (D)

Look up the definition of replacement player and there will be a picture of Freddie Hamilton. Hamilton has lackluster possession numbers and doesn’t put up points, but he can be paid at a very cheap cost and to be quite frank the upgrade on from a 4.5 million dollar player to a 5.5 million dollar player is more substantial than the upgrade on Hamilton from 575 thousand to 1.5 million. A team that has Hamilton-like players on its fourth line with Hamilton like contracts is set up well to give those higher value contracts to the lines that get major minutes. Now if only they could cut the dead weight that plays worse than Hamilton with larger contracts...

Our Final Grade: C-