For the second year running, I feel as if many of my fellow Boston Bruins fans forgot the mission of the team’s Seventh Player Award. Last night, rookie defenseman Dougie Hamilton was given the honor–and then probably followed Jack Edwards up to the ninth floor of TD Garden so he could watch the game from the press box, having been a healthy scratch once again since there are a glut of healthy blueliners.
The Seventh Player Award is given to the player who went above and beyond the call of duty and exceeded expectations in the season. Keep that last part in mind there. Hamilton was chosen ninth in the 2011 draft, but by that time, he’d already made waves in the OHL. He won CHL Scholastic Player of the Year and the OHL’s separate version of that honor, both in 2010-11, and followed that up by winning the OHL version of the Norris Trophy in 2011-12. He notched 72 points in that Kaminsky Trophy campaign.
While the NHL was locked out and his big club debut delayed for that reason, he went back to the Niagara IceDogs. Pre-lockout, his Niagara coach said he didn’t expect to see him come back (under normal NHL season conditions) because Hamilton was just ready to go big time. In 32 OHL games played this season, he had 41 points.
Up in the big times this year, he’s been pretty good, though I think he’s felt quite a lot of pressure and recently he’s been scratched a few times. He’s made mistakes, but what rookie defenseman doesn’t? But, again, first-rounder, award-winner at the junior level–what exactly are his expectations? Do nothing at all? Basically, how did he win this over someone like Daniel Paille, who was my Seventh Player vote?
Before you answer “It’s the fangirls, they’re ruining everything,” please consider that young women are merely a subset of hockey fans as a whole and aren’t exactly as all-powerful as is sometimes assumed. It is entirely possible that older fans, and male fans, voted for Hamilton as well as young women.
Now, Paille was a first-rounder as well–he went 20th overall in 2002–but he’s a different case. Part of the fan-favorite Merlot line, in 44 games so far this season, he’s almost matched his best point output since he became a Bruin.
In 2009-10, he notched 19 points in 74 games. At this writing, he has 17 points for this season. He’s really made himself noticed in this campaign and has even improved his ability to finish on the breakaway! Actually, he and two other players are tied for fourth for the most goals this year. Those other two are Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, both of whom are top-six centers, not fourth-liners.
I’ve also seen cases made for Shawn Thornton, Tuukka Rask and even Lane MacDermid (since traded) for Seventh Player.
Last year’s Seventh Player, another one blamed solely on “the fangirls,” was first-rounder Tyler Seguin. That led Brad Marchand, 2011′s winner, to joke about expectations for first-rounders not being that high anymore. But interestingly, Marchand may have been the most recent Seventh Player winner to really espouse going above expectations.
He’d been pegged as a 1o-goal scorer in 2010-11, but then potted 21 before the Bruins got into the playoffs and eventually won the Stanley Cup. He wanted to prove himself and go above what was expected of him. That’s pretty much the definition of exceeding expectations, especially for a guy drafted in the third round.
Don’t get me wrong, Hamilton is a talent and will continue to get better for the Bruins. But to say he went above expectations? That’s a stretch.
As if to prove he should’ve won instead, Paille even scored a goal last night to extend Boston’s lead to 2-0, the eventual final score.
