The Carolina Hurricanes are a different team without their favorite goofball, Dougie. Let’s break down the defense to see how the team is with and without Hamilton.
It has been 12 games now, and a whole all-star break, since our favorite goofball was in a red and black sweater. It saddens our hearts deeply, but if you were at the last couple of home games, Dougie was there to sound the siren; a glimmer of hope!
It is also apparent that the team has been struggling lately and is missing Dougie’s production on the ice as much as his antics.
Let’s take some time to break down Canes life with Dougie and without Dougie. While yes this effects everyone on the team, the focus here is the blue liners, with a sprinkle of goalie talk. It’s hard to just talk about before and after with so may variables to compare, so let’s start with the old win column.
Canes Win Percentage
The Carolina Hurricanes were 27-17-2 with Dougie Hamilton on the roster and playing. This seems great right? It is! The Canes were sitting comfortably in a playoff spot and winning games more than not!
To find a true “win percentage” in the NHL it’s best to think about how many points a team earned, and how much it could have earned. Since you get points for after regulation losses, there is more to consider.
The Canes could have grabbed 92 points in the first 46 games (nearly impossible), but only captured 56. This comes out to being a 61% point-getting ratio.
For the sake of this article we are going to wash the 1/16/19 game where Dougie was hurt. This was a loss so the final standings will have the Canes with one more loss, but we are focusing on Pre and Post Dougie.
Now in the games since Dougie’s injury, the Canes are 7-3-2, again seems good right? Right! In this time frame the Canes captured 16 out of 24 possible points in 12 games. That makes a 67% point-getting ratio.
But at the same time the Canes are hanging on to a playoff spot for dear life! So what gives? By no means does this mean the Canes are better without Dougie. If anything it means we lost a guy with 40 points in 46 games when we needed him most. Everyone else in the Metro is playing out of their minds right now.
But that’s the team, let’s see the individual stats.