It’s early but Calgary’s results with Travis Hamonic on the ice haven’t been particularly good. Worse for the Flames, the problem that Hamonic is having is exactly the thing that undermined his 2016-17 season with the New York Islanders. If you traded for Hamonic on the assumption that last year was a mix of injury and too much time on a discombobulated Islanders team, it has to send a chill down your spine to see the same thing happening again.



From my perspective, the idea behind acquiring Hamonic in a trade was that he’d give the Flames a second legitimate top four right shot defenceman to slot into their lineup. He’d end up with either TJ Brodie or Mark Giordano, with Dougie Hamilton partnering with whichever one of those two wasn’t partnered with Hamonic. Given that finding a partner for whoever wasn’t with Hamilton had been an issue for Calgary, it all made sense.



The only concern was that Hamonic had suffered through a...