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Trade Talks Heating Up Around $72 Million Devils Defenseman, Per Top Insider

Originally posted on House of Hockey | By Jack Sutherland | Last updated Jul 6, 2025 4:19 PM ET

There are trade talks reportedly heating up surrounding New Jersey Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton, who has been plagued by injuries.

The New Jersey Devils are reportedly looking to free up salary cap space, and it could lead to a trade of defenseman Dougie Hamilton.

Per NHL analyst Elliotte Friedman on a recent '32 Thoughts' podcast, the Devils, who have already paid Hamilton a salary bonus, said that his name has been included in recent rumors but that he's not sure of the chances that a deal goes down.

To me, the next biggest question for the Devils is Dougie Hamilton. He went from a full no move clause to a partial no trade. I'm just curious here to see what happens. They paid him his bonus on July 1st.

I don't have a great feel for it in terms of percentage chances that anything occurs with him. But I know that his name was kind of out there a little bit. And I've heard they've been talking to a couple of teams. So we'll see where that goes

Hamilton still has 3 years left on his current contract with an AAV (average annual value) of $9 million.

He has been hampered by injuries in recent years, playing in only 20 games in 2023-24 and then 64 games this year.

Originally taken with the 9th overall pick by the Boston Bruins in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, Hamilton has also played for the Calgary Flames and the Carolina Hurricanes during his playing career.

He has 501 points (151G, 350A) in 835 career NHL games, but could very well find himself playing for a new team before long.

This article first appeared on House of Hockey and was syndicated with permission.

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