Carolina Hurricanes: Revisiting 2019-20 Player Predictions
By Austin Blum
1. Dougie Hamilton
Dougie Hamilton should be in shape for a 40-point season, to be more specific, 20 goals and 20 assists. I also mentioned that his offensive production would increase if he seen more time on the power play. Hamilton should see the trend continue in his physical play as the Hurricanes were lacking a true physical presence with the departure of Micheal Ferland. Lastly, we should see Hamilton play defense efficiently this season.
Analysis of 2019-20 Performance Compared to Prediction
This is a prediction I feel alright about, even though he scored 40 points in the 47 games he played before injuring his leg. I thought he would get 40 points in the whole season. In these 47 games, Hamilton had 14 goals and 26 assists. I believed that Hamilton would show gradual improvement this season. Instead, he blew us all out of the water and had a Norris Trophy type season until he was unfortunately lost for a long period of time.
Dougie Hamilton: All-Star ⭐ pic.twitter.com/0p9k1XoEf8
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) December 30, 2019
The part of my prediction that was mostly correct was how efficient of a play Hamilton was on defense. He was never known for his defense, but this season he proved he can play at a high level in key situations defensively. He also proved to be a key member of the Hurricanes penalty kill, something he wanted to do. And after taking on that responsibility, he did nothing but excel in penalty kill situations. He also was a plus-30. His defense vastly improved and he was efficient.
In terms of becoming a physical presence for the Hurricanes, he did show his physicality at time, but not all the time. As it stands, he has 52 hits, which is tied ninth on the Hurricanes with Nino Niederreiter. He wasn’t the physical force to replace Ferland that I thought he could be, but there were times he would punish people to show them he’s there.
Although he hit exactly what I predicted point wise, without the injury he would have completely shattered what I expected him to do this season. And I am not upset about that at all. Hamilton proved to be an absolute force for the Hurricanes defense and over time you saw how much he was missed in certain situations.