James Nichols
What in the world is happening with the New Jersey Devils and defenseman Dougie Hamilton?
On Friday before the 2026 NHL Trade Deadline, New Jersey Hockey Now requested to speak with Dougie Hamilton.
The Devils defenseman politely declined. In fact, Hamilton has not been made available to speak to the media since the public comments by his agent, J.P. Barry of CAA Sports Agency, earlier this season.
By now, you should know the history. The Devils healthy scratched the $9 million defenseman in January due to “performance issues.”
However, Hamilton’s agent came out and publicly stated he believed the Devils were trying to force the 32-year-old defenseman’s hand to waive his 10-team trade protection.
“In our view, this decision is all about business rather than his game right now,” Barry said via Pierre LeBrun on X. “Singling him out seems very calculated at this stage,” Barry said. “Dougie has a 10-team trade list, and there have been efforts to trade him going back to the draft last year. We have made it clear to the Devils that we will consider teams outside our list and other creative ways to get to a team that is mutually acceptable.”
Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald responded by doubling down on the notion that the scratch was strictly performance-based.
Hamilton returned to the lineup the very next game for the Devils. In 20 games since the public comments, Hamilton’s play improved with three goals and 17 points.
Regardless, the agent of an NHLer doesn’t just recklessly comment through a national reporter something he believes to be true without some sort of confirmation.
Ever since then, Hamilton’s name was at the top of every major publication’s trade board leading up to the 2026 NHL Trade Deadline.
In fact, there were multiple reports linking Hamilton to opposing teams.
Then, the deadline came and went, and the Devils did absolutely nothing following their derailed season that surprised many.
When asked if the Devils GM was at all close to trading Hamilton before 3 o’clock on Friday, he explained it wasn’t something he tried to pursue.
“No, I honestly, I did not have Dougie Hamilton’s name out there,” Fitzgerald started. “Did I get calls from a couple teams assuming that I had Dougie’s name out there? Yeah, but Dougie’s played extremely well for us. And he’s a really good player. When we’re playing well, he’s usually playing well, and that’s what we expect from him. So there was no shopping or putting him out there on the market to see what I got. I didn’t do that. I was in line with his representation. They knew exactly what I wanted to do. I want him to keep playing well for us. Honestly, there was more noise out there than there actually was.”
When prompted to expand on the relationship dynamic between Hamilton and the Devils after the public comments and trade speculation, Fitzgerald made the situation all the more confusing.
“I’m not sure what the misunderstanding was,” Fitzgerald responded. “When he was a healthy scratch, he wasn’t playing well. He deserved to be scratched, end of story. He’s played great ever since, and I give him a lot of credit. He’s playing up to his capabilities, and when he’s doing that, he gives us a great chance of winning hockey games and being a strong part of it. I’m just gonna keep answering the questions the same way, like we’re going to evaluate everything once the season.”
I guess we’ll see what happens this summer.
With 18 games left in the 2025-26 regular season, it’s unlikely the Devils make the playoffs.
On July 1st, Hamilton is owed a $7.4 million signing bonus, something that reportedly hindered the Devils’ ability to include him in a trade.
After that, Hamilton’s bonuses are all paid out with one year remaining on his contract after 2026-27.
Will he be a Devils this October? It might be a toss-up between him and Simon Nemec.
To be determined until this summer.
