Calgary Flames’ Dougie Hamilton Ranked 16th Best Defenceman

NHL.com has released their top 20 NHL defencemen list. And one of Calgary Flames top-pairing defencemen, Dougie Hamilton, made the list.

Let’s keep it going with Calgary Flames players making lists! NHL.com has been ranking the top 20 (blank) for every position. Last week, Johnny Gaudreau was ranked as the 10th best winger, earlier this week Sean Monahan made the cut for the top 20 centers, and now, we have another name to add. NHL just released the top 20 best defencemen and Dougie Hamilton was ranked at 16th overall.

Via NHL.com:

"In his second season in Calgary, Hamilton had NHL career highs in goals (13), assists (37), points (50) and game-winning goals (five). Hamilton, who finished eighth among defensemen in scoring, played 81 games and took a career-high 222 shots on goal. He helped Calgary tie a Flames record with 10 straight wins from Feb. 21-March 13 and qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The 24-year-old has reached double figures in goals in each of the past three seasons and is plus-21 in five NHL seasons."

Related Story: Sean Monahan Named to Top 20 Best Centers List

Like it says, he finished with a career-high 50 points. This was also highest on the team and his five GWG put him at second among all defencemen in the NHL. And let’s look at what may be the best game-winner he scored this past season:

Last season was a bit of an off-season for him scoring just 43 points in 82 games (coming off 42 points in 72 games the season before). This left Flames fans wondering if this was the right choice for the team. If the three draft picks Calgary gave up for him was worth it.

And it definitely paid off.

He improved a lot since last year. He’s much faster now, he’s shooting the puck a lot more, he’s smart about when to go to the net, and his confidence has shot up. And because of this, he was voted at ninth for Norris Trophy voting. He does credit a lot of this and credits his turn-around season to Captain of the Calgary Flames and fellow defensive partner, Mark Giordano.

Related Story: Dougie Hamilton's Career-High Season

Via Calgary Herald:

"It was definitely a big change from where I started the season. I think I was playing with a bunch of different partners, third-pairings and that kind of thing. I had a bad stretch of games with a lot of minuses. (Gulutzan) put me with Gio and it kind of turned my season around. I tried to make the most of it and take the opportunity.“He’s a guy I look up to.”I think he’s just so good at everything, I don’t think he has a weakness. Any aspect of the game, he’s good at it. His shot, he’s physical, his skating and he’s smart. Pretty much everything there. He’s a guy I look up to."

Psst, Gio also made the top 20 best defencemen list!

And of course, we here at Flame for Thought love Dougie too.

And how could he not make the list with this stat that truly matters the most, the Dougie Bombs.

Next: Throwback Thursday - Game 6 Against the Canucks

Dougie Hamilton may have hit his career-high, but let’s hope we get another one next season.