Dougie Hamilton Enjoying Breakout Season For Boston Bruins

BOSTON — Dougie Hamilton is in his third NHL season despite being just 21 years old.

It normally takes several seasons for defensemen to hit their stride after breaking into the top level. The increased size, speed and intelligence of pro players often makes the transition from junior/NCAA hockey to the NHL a difficult one.

Hamilton has shown a lot of improvement since his rookie campaign in 2012-13. Instead of being sheltered with easy zone starts against weak competition like many other defensemen his age, the ninth pick in the 2011 draft has played against the opponent’s top lines with a lower offensive zone start percentage than most of his teammates this season.

Hamilton leads Boston D-men in scoring (20 points) and goals (seven). His three-point effort that included two goals Sunday night against the Buffalo Sabres was his sixth multi-point game of the season. Hamilton is giving the Bruins excellent offensive production for a 21-year-old player, so I was wondering how he compared to other high-scoring blueliners during seasons in which they were 18 to 21 years old.

Here’s how Hamilton stacks up against the top scoring defensemen since the 2004-05 lockout when they were 18 to 21 years old. You’ll notice that Hamilton isn’t too far away from the top 10 despite having the rest of this season (48 games) before turning 22 in June.

Rank	Player	From/To	GP	G	A	PTS
1	Erik Karlsson	2009/2012	216	37	112	149
2	Drew Doughty	2008/2011	239	33	93	126
3	Tyler Myers	2009/2012	217	29	79	108
4	Dion Phaneuf	2005/2007	161	37	62	99
5	Zach Bogosian	2008/2012	264	29	60	89
6	Michael Del Zotto	2009/2012	204	21	68	89
7	Cam Fowler	2010/2013	195	16	64	80
8	Marc-Edouard Vlasic	2006/2009	245	11	65	76
9	Andrej Meszaros	2005/2007	164	17	57	74
16	Dougie Hamilton	2012/2015	140	19	42	61

When you look at goals per game during that same span, Hamilton ranks inside the top 10.

Rank	Player	From/To	GP	G/G
1	Dion Phaneuf	2005/2007	161	0.23
2	P.K. Subban	2009/2011	79	0.18
3	Shea Weber	2005/2007	107	0.18
4	Erik Karlsson	2009/2012	216	0.17
5	Aaron Ekblad	2014/2015	31	0.16
6	Jacob Trouba	2013/2015	96	0.15
7	Drew Doughty	2008/2011	239	0.14
8	Dougie Hamilton	2012/2015	140	0.14
9	Tyler Myers	2009/2012	217	0.13
10	Alex Pietrangelo	2008/2011	96	0.13

On a points per game basis, Hamilton ranks just outside the top 10.

Rank	Player	From/To	GP	PTS/G
1	Erik Karlsson	2009/2012	216	0.69
2	Dion Phaneuf	2005/2007	161	0.61
3	Aaron Ekblad	2014/2015	32	0.59
4	Drew Doughty	2008/2011	239	0.53
5	P.K. Subban	2009/2011	79	0.51
6	Tyler Myers	2009/2012	217	0.5
7	Erik Johnson	2007/2010	148	0.49
8	Alex Pietrangelo	2008/2011	96	0.48
9	Shea Weber	2005/2007	107	0.47
11	Dougie Hamilton	2012/2015	140	0.44

Hamilton also is the leading scorer among defensemen drafted in 2011. His 61 points are 27 more (in six fewer games) than the next-highest scorer, Jonas Brodin of the Minnesota Wild.

When the Bruins lost Zdeno Chara for 29 games because of an injury, Hamilton raised his level of play with 15 points (four goals, 11 assists) and an excellent 54.2 percent Corsi-for percentage during 5-on-5 from Oct. 24 through Dec. 11. Not many 21-year-old defensemen would be able to play more than 20 minutes per game against quality competition, generate scoring and help drive puck possession all in a top-pairing role, but Hamilton has been pretty reliable throughout the season.

There’s still plenty of room for growth in Hamilton’s game, though. One area that must improve is his decision making on when to jump into the play and when to play it safe and prevent the possibility of the opponent having an odd-man rush. He could also play a little more physical, although that facet of his game has taken a step forward this season.

“There’s times where he’s aggressive and the decisions aren’t the right one, so it’s learning as you go along here for a young player,” Bruins head coach Claude Julien said Sunday night. “He’s 21 years old, I think we’re getting a lot out of a 21-year-old defenseman right now. Even if he has bad games, he’s been pretty good overall.”

Thumbnail photo via Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports Images