For the better part of three seasons, the Carolina Hurricanes have had one of the best defensive pairings in hockey.
With Dougie Hamilton and Jaccob Slavin anchoring the blue line, the Hurricanes have gone from a bottom-dwelling team to one with real championship aspirations after three consecutive playoff berths. A wrench has been thrown into the situation, though.
Hamilton is scheduled to hit the free-agent market later this month, but his future with the team will likely be decided much sooner than that. Ryan wrote about how important Dougie is to the team’s success and what role he will play in them reaching their potential, but today I’m writing about an oft-used talking point.