Carolina Hurricanes: Eliminate Flyers From Contention

3. Dougie Hamilton is on Fire

Dougie Hamilton is one of us. He plays the game the same way a fan would play it if they made their own character for NHL19. He doesn’t care about what anyone else thinks and will not apologize for who he is. Lucky for him, he doesn’t have to when playing for the Carolina Hurricanes. Who he is is a perfect fit for the weird chemistry this team has.

His post game antics, which include unique choices in music for post game workouts and photobombing interviews has been a welcomed change of pace for the locker room of the team that got called a bunch of jerks on TV. Hamilton is no longer being criticized for who he is. Carolina is his home now and he intends to make the most of it.

With 243 consecutive games with a shot on goal it is surprising to see that he only has 16 goals this season and 17 last season. There are those who say that he needs to cool down and start taking better shots. That said, Gretzky always said that you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take and Dougie is not going to question the great one.

More recently however he has been taking better shots and finding empty space behind netminders to park the puck in. He has ballooned in goals from 10 before the trade deadline to the 16 he has now along with five apples to go along with them. Last night he managed to not miss any chances to add on only 21 seconds after a powerplay tally to take the lead in the game.

For a man in his first season with the Carolina Hurricanes, he has devoted all his time and effort to this team. From taking younger players under his wing during off ice events, to even taking the time to master his Rick Flair “Woo”. Dougie Hamilton is a player for the people on a team made of players for the people, which is not an easy thing to do.

https://twitter.com/NHLCanes/status/1112092854380384257

I can listen to that all day, for those of you who have eventually stopped the loop and decided to finish reading this article, join me in hoping that Dougie Hamilton’s nature as a Carolina Hurricane is infectious and that more players learn to have the same fun he is having and use that to win more and more games as the season draws to a close.

Last night was a complete game. Today is another chance to reapply everything I just said with Curtis McElhinney being the only change. This team *knock on wood* has bee undefeated in the second half of a back to back going all the way back to January. No reason to change the script now. Take these takeaways from last night and apply them again to head to Toronto in third place in the Metro.

Question for CC Readers: Where do you think Dougie Hamilton’s SOG streak will end? Will it be this season? Next? Or the day he retires from the NHL?