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.