Welcome to the The Hockey Writers’ Countdown of the 10 most impactful New Jersey Devils of the 2024-25 season. This is not a countdown of the ten best but rather a list of players slated to have the most significant impact. These ten players offer unique contributions, are challenging to replace, and are essential to the Devils’ quest to return to the postseason. The list continues with number four, Dougie Hamilton.
The Devils’ rebuild began in earnest with the trade of Taylor Hall, which directly led to the acquisition of Dawson Mercer, Timo Meier, and Jacob Markstrom. The rebuild then accelerated with Hamilton’s signing, causing the league to take notice. He was the first player from the outside to fully buy into general manager Tom Fitzgerald’s vision to remake the Devils into a Stanley Cup contender. Hamilton’s (very lucrative) leap of faith was a harbinger of things to come, paving the way for other talented veterans to make their way to New Jersey.
Hamilton burst on the scene in his first game in a Devils sweater, scoring the team’s first goal on its first shot just 17 seconds into the season. That season would be a harbinger of his Devils career, to this point, elite offensive contributions from the blue line marred by long-term absences due to injuries.
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Two of Hamilton’s three seasons in New Jersey have been marred by significant injuries. In just three seasons, he has suffered a broken jaw, a torn pectoral muscle, and a fractured toe. Hamilton is a warrior; he returned early and played through his injuries when possible despite being unable to play at the level to which he was accustomed. He was only able to play 82 games combined in seasons one and three and was limited for much of those as he played through nerve damage in his jaw and a broken toe. His impact in his only full season is undeniable. He set Devils scoring records for a defenseman and seemed to score or be involved in every critical overtime or late-game six-on-five goal all season.
Hamilton is Still a Norris Caliber Defenseman
In the games Hamilton did play, there can be no denying his impact throughout the lineup. He set the Devils team record for most goals by a defenseman with 22. His ability to eat up huge minutes on the top pair allowed the rest of the defensemen to slot in on more comfortable assignments, leading to players like Damon Severson and Ryan Graves signing lucrative free-agent deals. Hamilton’s most significant impact is the advantage he provides patrolling the blue line when the Devils have a man advantage. He has consistently been in the top ten percent of all NHL players in terms of top speed and average speed of his shots (Per NHL Edge).
Hamilton has a unique ability to get his heavy shot both through traffic and on the net in the most critical moments. This was reflected best in 2022-23 when he was in the top one percent in the NHL of both shots on goal and goals coming from shots at long range. That season, the average NHL defenseman had 35 shots from long range, and Hamilton managed 130 shots on goal from that distance. His eight long-range goals were equally impressive, eight times as many as the NHL average. A healthy Hamilton is a unique weapon.
During the 2022-23 season, Hamilton was second on the team with eight power-play goals and 28 power-play points. His shooting percentage on the power play was double that at even strength. With an extra attacker on at the end of the game, he led the team with five primary assists. Last season, he was on pace to overtake those numbers despite having some of his power play time curtailed. In just 20 games before his injury, he had already scored four power-play goals, putting him on pace for a career-high 16.
His success in 2022-23 merited more consideration for the Norris Trophy than he ultimately received. While San Jose Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson was the runaway favorite after scoring over 100 points, Hamilton deserved a better fate than finishing sixth in the voting. He finished the season second in goals (22), fourth in points (74), tied for the league lead in power-play goals (eight) and home goals (14), and was the outright leader in game-winning goals by a defenseman with seven. He compiled all these stats while playing 21 minutes a game and ending the season in the top 20 of plus/minus, posting a plus-23. With the new additions to New Jersey, there is no reason he cannot be counted on to improve on these numbers while anchoring one of the most complete defensive corps in the NHL.
Hamilton’s Impact on the 2024-25 Devils
To understand Hamilton’s impact on the Devils, one must look at the last 62 games of last season. At the time of his injury, the Devils averaged over 15 goals per 60 minutes on the power play, more than three goals better than any other team in the league. Over the next 62 games, that number dipped to under six goals per 60 minutes, and the team tumbled from first in the NHL to 30th (Per Natural Stat Trick). Many discounted the potential loss of Hamilton as something the team could overcome with the likely emergence of Luke Hughes and the seemingly unstoppable power play. Unfortunately for New Jersey, as the season progressed, it became abundantly clear how profound a loss Hamilton was and that, while talented, Hughes was still a rookie acclimating to the NHL who would have benefitted from Hamilton reemerging on PP1.
Hamilton continued ingratiating himself with the fans even in his absence from the ice. The team has gone all in on marketing Dougie as the team’s social media admin. This culminated with a widely acclaimed schedule release video where Hamilton and Curtis Lazar hilariously announced the team’s 2024-25 schedule, drawing over a million views across social media platforms. Hamilton’s infectious joy, on and off the ice, was missing from a team that seemed to be locked in a season of frustrations. Having him back on the ice and with the team on a daily basis should instantly improve team morale and translate to a better product on the ice.
Fitzgerald and new head coach Sheldon Keefe have been loathe to address potential defensive pairs in their summer media availability. With the signings of Brett Pesce and Brenden Dillon and the departure of John Marino and Brendan Smith, the team has solidified its blue line and significantly improved in its own zone. The likeliest pair to begin the season is reuniting Hamilton with Jonas Siegenthaler. The pair has been elite when playing together.
Despite his struggles last season, Siegenthaler was a stellar defensive partner with Hamilton when both were healthy, and there is reason to believe he can have a bounce-back year on Hamilton’s left side. Over the last two seasons among pairs that played at least 100 games together, the Siegenthaler/Hamilton pair ranks sixth in the NHL in expected goals for percentage and eighth in actual goals for percentage. The pair have earned a chance to try to regain their excellent form.
Hamilton’s potential impact on developing the Devils’ future must not be discounted. Hughes and Simon Nemec are arguably the two best defensemen in the NHL for their ages. They were picked in the top four and possess elite, two-way defenseman skills. With the experience they gained this season and their natural talent, the Devils are well-positioned for the next decade and in an even better place as the two can absorb the example of Hamilton running a power play at an elite level. Talent is not an issue for the pair, but they were tossed in the deep end last season without a life preserver and produced expectedly uneven results marked by enormous highs and deep lows. Had Hamilton been healthy, the pair could have been given more sheltered minutes to grow in a more supportive and forgiving environment.
That all changes immediately with a healthy Hamilton this season and the additions of Dillon and Pesce. The thought of a Devils defense with at least one of Hamilton, Hughes, or Nemec always on the ice at even strength should be terrifying for opponents and give Keefe a panoply of options to match his opponents without sacrificing offense or defense on every shift.
What They Are Saying About Dougie Hamilton
On April 22, 2023, the Devils crossed the Hudson River, trailing the rival New York Rangers two games to none in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Having been outscored 10-2 in the first two games, the team faced a Herculean task of climbing back in the series against one of the best home teams in the NHL, playing in front of a Vezina Trophy-caliber goaltender at the peak of his powers.
The series would change in an instant after Jesper Bratt’s overtime zone entry took the defenders with him, leaving Hamilton alone in the high slot where a blast from his stick beat Igor Shesterkin, catapulting New Jersey to its first road playoff victory in more than a decade. The Devils would ride the momentum created by Hamilton to go on and win three of the next four games to eliminate the Rangers in seven games.
When analyzing the game-winning goal, head coach Lindy Ruff quickly emphasized how difficult it is to beat Shesterkin when he has a clear view of a shot. He twice used the word perfect to describe Hamilton’s shot placement.
“When you break it down, Shesterkin still had great position on that shot, Dougie hit a perfect shot, right under the bar…when you look at the goal at the end he was there and it is a matter of an inch that it gets by his glove, a perfect shot by Dougie.”
Lindy Ruff – Post game April 22, 2023
Hamilton’s booming, accurate shot will be a sight for sore eyes for Devils fans come October, and that is why he is set to be the fourth most impactful Devil this season. Stay tuned for the following article to close the series by revealing the top three.
