Follow me on Twitter @ToddCordell
With absolutely nothing happening in the hockey world right now, and for the foreseeable future, I’ve decided to take the plunge and write player profiles for each member of the Calgary Flames.
As was the case when I did them last summer, we’ll be looking at the season they just put together and expectations moving forward.
I’ve written up 12 players thus far, with David Rittich being the most recent.
Today we’re going with Travis Hamonic.
Counting stats: 50 games, 12 points (three goals, nine assists), 21:12 average time on ice
5v5 underlyings: 0.70 points/60, -1.80 CF% Rel, -5.22 GF% Rel, -3.31 xGF% Rel, 98.9 PDO
2019-20 review: Relative to expectations, and what the Flames invested to get Hamonic, his season was a complete disappointment.
He provided next to nothing offensively, producing at a sub 20-point pace for the second time in three years with the Flames. That’s not the end of the world, though. He was brought in for plus defense. He didn’t exactly provide that, and I think that was the big problem.
If we don’t classify Michael Stone as a regular – he wouldn’t play with a healthy top-6 so let’s roll with that – then Hamonic was objectively the worst defender on the roster. And, no, that’s not an exaggeration.
The Flames gave up shot attempts, scoring chances, expected goals, and actual goals at a higher rate with Hamonic on the ice than any other defender. In some cases, nobody even came close.
Hamonic missed quite a few games due to injury, and his performance was subpar when he was healthy. It was a failure of a season by all accounts.
Fun fact(s): Hamonic was on the ice for more chances and goals against/60 this season than in any previous year of his career.
2020-21 outlook: Hamonic will probably still get paid a pretty penny in the off-season because a) he’s a fairly big name; b) he plays a style GMs seem to favor out of defenders and; c) defensemen are always hot commodities.
I don’t think Hamonic will be getting that pretty penny from the Flames, though. He has largely been a disappointment in Calgary and he doesn’t play a brand of hockey that ages well. Be it on retaining players (like T.J. Brodie) or finding new ones, GM Brad Treliving would be better off spending his money elsewhere. I expect he will do just that.
Unless this season somehow resumes, I think Hamonic has suited up with the Flames for the last time.
numbers via naturalstattrick.com and hockey-reference.com
Recent posts:
2020-21 player profile: David Rittich
2020-21 player profile: Cam Talbot
2020-21 player profile: Milan Lucic
2020-21 player profile: Mark Giordano
2020-21 player profile: Dillon Dube
2020-21 player profile: Andrew Mangiapane
2020-21 player profile: Derek Ryan
2020-21 player profile: Sam Bennett
2020-21 player profile: T.J. Brodie
2020-21 player profile: Mikael Backlund
2020-21 player profile: Noah Hanifin
2020-21 player profile: Elias Lindholm