Edmonton Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli could use a couple of young defenseman.
Darnell Nurse is likely to make the jump from Oklahoma City soon and Oscar Klefbom showed some promise last season, but beyond Justin Schultz, there's really not much in the way of established NHL talent along the Oilers blueline.
With Edmonton's first-overall pick in the 2015 NHL Draft later this week already ticketed for All World, once-in-a-generation talent Connor McDavid, there aren't many options for offseason defensive upgrades beyond their second first-rounder, No. 16 - assuming, of course, that they don't deal it to the New York Rangers in exchange for goaltender Cam Talbot first.
In short, unless a reacquisition of Jeff Petry or a deal for Mike Green is in the cards, Chiarelli will have to get creative on defense this offseason. But would he ever risk the fury that would likely come from putting together an offer sheet for defenseman Dougie Hamilton, one of his former Bruins draft picks?
"Well, they get personal. And that's why - I mean, how much fun would it be if Peter Chiarelli in your town slapped an offer sheet on Dougie Hamilton, just given his own personal history - recent history - with the Bruins after being fired," said TSN NHL Insider Pierre LeBrun, while appearing on Edmonton's TSN 1260 on Monday, via TodaysSlapShot.com.
"But I mean, if it does happen - that wouldn't be why. Peter Chiarelli always puts his team's needs ahead of him and the reality is if Edmonton ever did that - I'm not sure they will, but the only thing I do know is they've talked about it internally. But they may, like a lot of teams, they may end up thinking it's not worth the hassle."
While LeBrun makes it sound pretty farfetched that Chiarelli and the Oilers would ever actually submit an offer sheet, it makes ample hockey sense. Hamilton, the ninth-overall choice in the 2011 NHL Draft, appeared in 72 games for the Bruins last season, amassing 10 goals, 32 assists and a minus-three rating.
"Hamilton, 22, is coming off his entry-level contract. Given his experience and his comparables, a long-term deal would likely command a steep cap hit, perhaps similar to that of Drew Doughty's eight-year, $56 million deal signed back in 2012," writes DJ Bean of WEEI.com.
"The Bruins could sign Hamilton to a shorter-term deal with a lower cap hit, but that would get Hamilton closer to unrestricted free agency, at which point he could command much more money."
Bean lays out the Bruins' dilemma with Hamilton well here - paying him now means a hefty cap hit and with just over $6.5 million in cap space at current, that's simply not feasible without also jettisoning salary elsewhere.
Giving him a short-term bridge deal means the team risks losing him to unrestricted free agency after another season or two and would put the two sides right back in the same situation then.
Chiarelli and the Oilers, with about $18.5 million in space, have ample room to bring Hamilton onboard and pay the budding offensive defenseman quite handsomely.
There's no GM in the league who knows Hamilton as well as Chiarelli, so it's likely he'd very much be in favor of reuniting with the speedy defender.
Whether he's willing to risk the anger and ill-will that an offer sheet would likely engender between the Oilers and Bruins though, is another consideration entirely.
