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Calgary Flames: Three stars of the 2017-18 season

By Ramina Shlah

LAS VEGAS, NV - FEBRUARY 21: Dougie Hamilton #27 celebrates a goal scored by Matthew Tkachuk #19 with his teammates Johnny Gaudreau #13, Mark Giordano #5, and Sean Monahan #23 of the Calgary Flames against the Vegas Golden Knights during the game at T-Mobile Arena on February 21, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by David Becker/NHLI via Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV - FEBRUARY 21: Dougie Hamilton #27 celebrates a goal scored by Matthew Tkachuk #19 with his teammates Johnny Gaudreau #13, Mark Giordano #5, and Sean Monahan #23 of the Calgary Flames against the Vegas Golden Knights during the game at T-Mobile Arena on February 21, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by David Becker/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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OTTAWA, ON – MARCH 09 2018: (Photo by Richard A. Whittaker/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
OTTAWA, ON – MARCH 09 2018: (Photo by Richard A. Whittaker/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

Second Star: Dougie Hamilton

The only two people I trust in this world are Mikael Backlund and Dougie Hamilton.

Dougie Hamilton this season was fifth in Calgary Flames scoring with 44 points in 82 games and tied for first among defencemen for goals with 17, which was also a career high for him. Even though he was tied for first among defencemen, it feels like he doesn’t quite get mentioned often when looking at the top defencemen in the league.

Not only were his points impressive, but so were his attempts. Every season with the Flames so far, Dougie has been improving in terms of puck-possession. He had quite a few missed shots this season along with a few posts, but he was second among all skaters with 1707 shot attempts (5v5). Brent Burns, who was first with 1770, played over 100 minutes more than Dougie did at even-strength. His CF% at 57.55 was fourth in the league (Giordano was first and Tkachuk was fifth in the league).

Related Story: Should the Flames trade Dougie Hamilton?

While it took about 51 games for the Flames coaching staff to finally realize that Dougie Hamilton was their best offensive defenceman and to finally put him on the first PP unit, their powerplay somewhat momentarily took off.

For all of these reasons and for the fact that nobody ever talks about him, he’ll always be a star in our hearts.

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