Dougie Hamilton said he is excited to be part of another highly rated defenseman group with the Carolina Hurricanes. He just hopes it turns out better than it did with the Calgary Flames, who traded him to Carolina on June 23.

"A lot of good players, high-end talent and deep," Hamilton told the Hurricanes website Tuesday. "So it's fun to be a part of that. I think when I went to Calgary, it was kind of the same thing, where on paper maybe we were the best [defense] corps in the League, and we actually didn't turn out so good. So hopefully in Carolina we can do a little better of getting chemistry with everybody and really being a force back there as a unit."

The Flames made the Stanley Cup Playoffs once in three seasons after Hamilton was traded to them by the Boston Bruins on June 26, 2015, despite having a strong defenseman group that included Mark Giordano and TJ Brodie and added Travis Hamonic last season.

Video: Dougie Hamilton is named No. 18 on the list

Hamilton, who was traded by Calgary to Carolina with forward Micheal Ferland and defenseman prospect Adam Fox for forward Elias Lindholm and defenseman Noah Hanifin, joins a Hurricanes group that includes Justin Faulk, Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce, Calvin de Haan and Trevor van Riemsdyk. The 25-year-old said he hopes to help Carolina get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2008-09.

"I looked up to (former Carolina center) Eric Staal a lot when I was little, seeing the fans when they were winning and stuff," Hamilton said. "Obviously, now it's a little different with the fans and playing here. As players, we just want to get back to winning and having the fans come and having a good atmosphere and everything. I'm looking forward to that."

Hamilton's 17 goals in 2017-18 were tied for the NHL lead among defensemen with Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Ivan Provorov of the Philadelphia Flyers. He's one of the new Hurricanes who have co-captain Jordan Staal confident the playoff drought will end.

"I think having optimism to start the season, knowing you have a great group that can do it, is the approach I always take, and I think we do, and we have a lot of exciting young players that are going to be fun to watch and obviously a lot of great returnees, so it's going to be a great year," said Staal, who has played for Carolina the past six seasons and is entering his second season as co-captain with Faulk.