Today, we wrap up our three-part series comparing the Canes’ three skater groups (we won’t torture you with a goalie comparison that has an inevitable conclusion) with the overwhelming strength of this year’s roster, the defensemen.
The trade for Dougie Hamilton, who tied for the league lead for goals among defensemen with 17 and has had four straight seasons of 40-plus points, and the singing of the steady Calvin de Haan gives Carolina an absolutely loaded D corps. The Hamilton trade did cost the team a player with a high ceiling in Noah Hanifin, but Hanifin’s ceiling is what Hamilton is now.